Kitsune Twins
by Silver Cateyes
Summary: Duo's a Kitsune, and hiding it who's his twin? And what will happen when the other pilots find out about this? Fusion with YYH, though the YYH characters don't show up for a LONG time. eventual1x2, 3x4, KuramaxHiei. Rated for languageviolence later.
1. Moongazing

**Kitsune Twins****By Silver Cateyes**

**Notes! Whee!**

1) Firstly, as some of you _may_ suspect, this is a crossover/fusion with YuYu Hakusho. If you can't guess just who the main characters are gonna be, well, you'll find out soon enough!

2) Be warned- there will be** YAOI **here. From both series. No real yuri, though, 'cause there won't be an incredible number of girls. Probably lime level, as ff doesn't allown lemons. If you don't recognize these terms, don't like these terms, or aren't old enough (in your parent's opinions) to read about these terms, leave, because you will have problems with the stories.

Of course, no one will heed this warning. If you don't recognize 'em, you'll probably read it to find out what they mean. If you don't like 'em, you'll read it just to get all mad and horrified and then flame me (_WHY!?!_), and if you're too young (in your parent's opinions) you'll probably enjoy the thrill breaking the rules gives you. Human stupidity knows no bounds. Well, DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU!!!!!!!

3) If you ignore Warning #3 (which you will), you are in no way, shape, or form allowed to flame me. I warned you what was coming, and if you read something you _know_ you won't like, then your offense is your fault. (Why the hell would you read something you know you won't like, anyway?!? It's not like it's something that would be a class assignment, or something) I love constructive criticism and helpful/encouraging comments, but I will print out flames and use them for one of several purposes- a) free heating for the home come winter, b) wallpaper for public bathrooms, for public amusement, c) paper towels and toilet paper for said public restrooms, and, d) kitty litter for Catclaws (my evil alter ego). And _she_ likes to go hunt down and eat flamers.

4) I own nothing. Not the G-boys (::whaaaaa::), not Kuwabara and Yusuke (phooey), and not Kurama and Hiei (damn, damn, _damn!_). No characters, or worlds, are mine (except for the occasional bit player). The only thing that I have any claim to is the plot, which _might_ be ripped off, too. Fair warning: If you sue me, you will get nothing but dust-bunnies, my catnip toy, some really louse tests, and _maybe_ some cute friendship bracelets. But I'll fight to keep those with every tooth and claw I have. So, pick another target, send the lawyers packing, or just enjoy the fact that someone likes your stories enough to write fics on your stuff, or something. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, goddammit.

5) This fic is very TWT. I use events from the canon timeline without regard for their order. For example, I might talk about Trowa's time at the circus several months before it really happened. Sorry- but I've never seen the anime, so I have next to _no_ clue about the proper timeline. I like writing AUs better then I like writing canons, anyway. Lovely how that all works out...

6) The whole lot of the characters might be a little OOC at one point or another... I'm sorry. But it's my first time writing for some of them, and I'm putting others in totally knew situations. Of course, a lot of it depends on your individual views of characters- but if I start on that, I'll be ranting about personal opinion and human rights for the next several hundred pages. So I'm passionate about personal beliefs- so sue me!

7) Last note, I swear! I'm sorry for being a general sarcastic, cynical bitch in the notes, and part of the fic. Blame Catclaws.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

On the roof of the latest safe house, Duo was indulging in his favorite pastime (well, favorite next to driving Wufei up the wall- that guy was _so_ easy sometimes!) and moon gazing. He didn't get to do it often, with so many missions requiring night attacks, but that was better then not being able to, period. Living on a colony had deprived him of it all together. And no one would have understood his longing for it, either- as a colony orphan, with no chance for travel and no formal schooling, he wasn't even supposed to _know_ about the moon beyond vague legends from off colony, and maybe from news reports he had happened to catch. He couldn't explain where he got the knowledge from, not if he didn't want to be considered one of the street crazies.

After all, who would believe a street kid claiming to be a reborn kitsune?

How long had it been since he had come in the Ningenkai? Nearly fifteen years now. It wasn't at all what he thought it would be when he had fled here.

He had expected a realm of foolish mortals, who didn't know or understand half of what happened to and around them. And many Ningens were just that- but just as many were so much more.

He had expected to be back in the Makai the moment his powers fully matured in this new form, but he found himself staying, and coming up with more excuses to stay.

And he certainly hadn't expected to become so deeply involved in this war that was so purely the Ningenkai's business- but here he was anyway, one of the main participants

-And here I'll stay, right aibou(1)?- he sent to his Gundam, hidden securely at the bottom of the lake.

His answer wasn't in words, not precisely. It was more in feelings and impressions. But it was as close to words as he had ever gotten from any metal. The Gundams were highly sophisticated pieces of machinery, and as such far more articulate then, say, a slab of iron. Not to mention that so much emotion and energy had been invested into them, from the time and effort of the people in the shops and repairs to all that happened to them and was felt inside them in a battle. They had absorbed a very large amount of ki from all the experiences. If it kept up, they would begin to develop personalities that even the others would be able to detect. All the Gods of the Makai knew that _he_ could certainly tell their personality quirks apart.

He chuckled softly at his answer- it was typical of 'Scythe. If he didn't know better, he would swear that his Gundam was taking lessons in Literal from Heero. _We have no missions, so we will not be going anywhere. That is good. If we could move from the lake, it would be better. The fish investigating my feet are uncomfortable._

"What's so funny?"

Duo nearly fell off the roof. How the hell had Quatre managed to sneak up on him? He hadn't been _that_ deep in thought.

The small blonde walked up the tiles to where Duo was reclining. "Well? Why the smile?"

"Just... stuff," Duo replied vaguely. Not lying made avoiding awkward questions difficult. But luckily, there were other reasons to laugh tonight, and Quatre picked one for him.

"Wufei's expression when he tasted your cooking _was_ funny, wasn't it?"

Duo hid his relief with behind a grin of agreement. "Yeah- you'd think the guy'd never had a pickle, sardine and peanut butter sandwich before!" Even to an experienced prankster, that look had been priceless.

"Did you come up here to get away from him?" Quatre asked.

Damn. "No, not really." Maybe Quatre'd take the hint and leave him alone... it'd be really hard to explain the real reason he was staring up at the moon. Of all the pilots, the little blonde was the only one who seemed to really try and look past the jester mask that all the others accepted as who Duo was. Of course, Duo _was_ a jester- but he was also so much more.

Quatre wasn't taking hints. "They why?" He seemed to want a genuine answer, and Duo couldn't see any way of avoiding giving one, short of pushing him off the roof.

Of course, that didn't mean he needed to give the _whole_ truth about why he was up here.

"Moon-gazing, Q-man," he said with a grin. "'S nearly full, and I might not be in a good gazing spot when it is."

"You really like the moon, then?" Quatre asked, settling down beside the spot where Duo was sprawled.

"Yeah." C'mon, Q, stop asking questions...

"Why?"

Dammit.

Good thing he had been born a colony boy, and had a very good alternative reason to love the moon... and it was as true as any other reason he had. Duo took a deep breath and started to speak. "When I was a kid on the colony, all we had was paint on a piece of metal that was over our heads. An' it was obviously paint, because L2's always been so poor. Didn't have a lotta money to spend on aesthetic niceties, even back when it was built, an' our sky showed it.

"The clouds didn't move, the stars didn't twinkle, the moon didn't shine. None of them gave off any light. Our light came from bulbs that were installed in the edges of the colony, and half of _them_ were burned out at any one time, anyway. During the night cycle, the only light came from something burning, or from reflections off the metal as the other half of the colony went through its day cycle.

"Now I'm looking at the real thing." Duo stopped talking, knowing that he had said a great deal that wasn't in character for his jester. Now Q _knew_ there was something else- he probably wouldn't stop until he knew what it was.

But Quatre didn't keep prying- he seemed satisfied with the reply. All he said was "I feel the same way- people live on the colonies, and make them into copies of what they left behind. But there's no way to really recreate it- and when you've lived on both, you know which is the original, and which is the copy."

Duo didn't reply, and the two sat, staring up at the night sky. After a while, Duo got up, dusted himself off, and headed back for the attic stairs that they had used to get up to the roof in the first place, tossing a careless "See ya later, Q-man!" over his shoulder as he went. When he reached them, Duo's grin was in place, and he bounced down into the house with his usual manic energy.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

(1) Aibou- partner  
  
A/N: Wow. This was way more serious then I thought it would be when I started it... Can I get some reviews for encouragement on this...? Pleeeese? You know that Duo's a kitsune now... So who's his twin? This is going to stay on the GW characters for a very long time before the YYH people come in. I wanna build up thier characters for a while.  



	2. Mission

Wow. I didn't expect such a positive response for just the first chapter (one of my other fics has three chapters and one review, and it took until chapter 4 of my thrid fic to get over 10 reviews). So, as a treat, a really fast update! Thanks to the reviewers will be found at the bottem.  
  
(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Quatre didn't keep prying- he seemed satisfied with the reply. All he said was "I feel the same way- people live on the colonies, and make them into copies of what they left behind. But there's no way to really recreate it- and when you've lived on both, you know which is the original, and which is the copy."

Duo didn't reply, and the two sat, staring up at the night sky. After a while, Duo got up, dusted himself off, and headed back for the attic stairs that they had used to get up to the roof in the first place, tossing a careless "See ya later, Q-man!" over his shoulder as he went. When he reached them, Duo's grin was in place, and he bounced down into the house with his usual manic energy.

**End Chapter**

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Quatre remained on the roof, staring up at the night sky, thinking. Since they had met, he had been making efforts to get to know all of his fellow pilots. Not only was it sound tactical advice to be familiar with the people he'd be trusting his back to, but it was something he genuinely wanted to do. He knew, of course, that each of them had their masks- even he had them, and he was the most open of the group. Every one of their team was far more then what they pretended to be, or what their surfaces showed.

Take Wufei. He used his anger and determination as both shields and weapons against the entire world, keeping them at a distance. The face he let them see was that of a warrior, who cared only for seeing justice done. But, there were times when he seemed so suited to the other end of the spectrum, to the books and stories of a scholar.

Once, on a mission where all five of them had been stuck in a one room safe house at the back end of the woods, he had stopped them all from going crazy and killing each other by telling myths and tales. Quatre had recognized a few, and knew them to be from radically different cultures and time periods. Duo had seemed to find many of them highly amusing for no reason that any of the others could see. His favorite had been a Japanese tale about a pair of trickster foxes, kitsune. He had doubled up in laughter at several parts (including the main fight scene) that seemed entirely unamusing to the others.

But they had learned by now not to ask- they just got long winded rambles that didn't really answer the original question, and giving Duo another reason to annoy them hadn't seemed like the best of ideas.

Quatre frowned. Of all of the pilots, up to and including Heero, Duo was the last to drop his shields. It was only tonight that he'd let them up at all. And even then, as open as that speech had sounded, it had only been the slightest indent in the walls. Quatre trusted his space heart- and it told him that there was a very great deal that the longhaired pilot was hiding. What he felt from Duo seemed... different, somehow, compared to what he caught from everyone else. They were Gundam pilots, and thus _expected_ to be different- Quatre knew that, and had expected for what he felt from them to be different from the general population. But Duo's degree of 'different' was far more pronounced then in the other three. It was a puzzle- and Quatre had never been able to resist a puzzle.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Duo raced down the stairs, heading for the central room of the safe house the five were sharing together. Hmmm... what to do, what to do? Nothing with food- no one would trust him in the kitchen for quite some time. And most of his current prank options had been exaughsted. Eventually, he headed for the TV room, falling back on the old standby of playing something annoying at high volume. Before he got there, however, his communicator beeped. Fuck. A new mission. What did the sadists want them to do now? If it was just another random base target, he was going to something downright _evil_ to their computer systems when he got back.

But it was only a 'sneak and steal' type. G and the other lab coats needed a prototype and its data from a certain lab, and they wanted Duo to get it. For backup and diversion, they were assigning Trowa, and for his partner into the lab, they wanted Heero. No surprise, really- Heero could get the data while he got the prototype. Seemed simple enough.

Knowing that the other three had gotten the same message and would be preparing, Duo started for the door that led to the underground bunker where all the Gundams were stored. On his way there, he passed Wufei now sleeping on the couch. A grin started to curve his lips.

Moving with the absolute silence that he had learned through two childhoods, one in the wilds of the Makai, and the other in the streets of L2, Duo slipped closer to Wufei until he could put his mouth directly by the sleeping pilot's ear. Slowly he expanded his lungs to their full capacity.

**_"SEE YA LATER, WUFEI!"_**

Then he ran.

An enraged howl rose behind him as Wufei managed to get off the floor and figure out what happened, and Duo spared a moment to thank all his ancestors and the gods of the Makai that even among the kitsune his speed had been unrivaled by anyone- save one other. But this wasn't the time to dwell on it- a furious Asian out for his blood (and possessing a very sharp sword) was hot on his heels.

Duo dove raced through the stone hallway that he knew ended in a solid steel door. If he could just reach that, he knew that Wufei would have to give up. None of them risked firing, swinging or throwing weapons around the Gundams. Made of near impenetrable metal or not, too many sensitive electronics and equipment were stored around them.

Increasing his speed to just this side of humanly possible, Duo dove through the door to the bunker and slammed it behind him. As he got up, he idly wondered just how Wufei would react if he knew that Duo could fully understand the Chinese curses he was spitting through the steel at him. Shrugging this off, he turned and came face to face with two sets of staring eyes. Or, to be more accurate, one set of staring eyes, and one eye that wasn't obscured by a long bang.

He pulled a grin onto his face. "What?"

Heero didn't respond. He just went back to running his diagnostic over Wing's right leg. Trowa held the look for a little longer, but he too eventually turned back to his work. They were both somewhat used to Duo's antics, by now.

Duo grinned wider and sauntered over to his own Gundam, to prepare for his own mission.

#(#(#(#(#(#)#)#)#)#)#

Well, there ya go, folks! How'd you like it? I welcome comments, ideas, suggestions, and critisisms. I'll admit, this chapter was mainly filler- I needed to gradually shift the scenery, and I needed to get Quatre's thoughts on Duo in here. As more chapters come up, you're going to see each of the other pilot's thought on their longhaired enigma. And won't they be intresting... Oh, and this was a special superfast update- updates will now be weekly. I can't promise that THIS fic will be updated weekly, but SOMETHING new will be uploaded every Thursday, and should be avalible by Friday. And now, thanks to the reviewers!  
  
Aquarius: Yeah, asking who his twin is IS kinda pointless... and who you're thinking is right on the money. As a prize for being the first reviewer, I'll even let you in on a secret: Duo and Kurama have absolutly no clue what the other one looks like now. Duo doesn't know that Kurama has red hair, and Kurama doesn't know that Duo has a braid. Bwahaha. Can you guess why?  
  
The Elven Archer of Rivendell: I seem to remeber showing the first chapter of this to you at some point. Is my memory going haywire, or am I right? NEway, I'm glad you like it, and hope you like the update!  
  
Crysania Fay: This soon enough for ya? Enjoy! Though like it says in the notes, it'll be about weekly, now. I hope you keep reading!  
  
Lolly Sister: I love these two, also- and I hope you can be patient until YYH comes in. As I said in my notes after the first chapter, there's going to be a TON on character building in GW before I start to combine them.  
  
Windy River: Here's the quick update! Keep liking it please- my ego needs it. I'm sorry nothing really plot shaking happans, but that'll come soon enough.  
  
ZmajGoddess: You read one of my other stories, yes? I seem to recall you adding me to your author alert list fairly early- before I put up this story. I'm flattered! Many thanks! If you ever feel bored one afternoon, I'd LOVE a comparison between them- though if you don't want to do it, it's okay. This will hopefully be a LONG fic- hope you keep with it!  
  
TA: This is the most inspirational three-word review I've ever read. (Most of 'em are 'what happans next?'). Thank you for telling me that my writing's cool (I honestly thought that the first chapter was WAY serious), thank you for reviewing, and thank you for telling me to keep writing. It's certianly more motivational then my parents yelling at me to do my homework!  
  
Elfslight: Thank you! And, yeah, when Duo and Kurama FINALLY meet up again, I'm gonna try and make it a little funny- but that will mainly be from interactions between Duo and Hiei. ::snicker::  
  
Cheerful-pinkstar: Here it is! Hope you like it, and the ones that will follow it!  



	3. Thoughts

Welll, a day late, here is the next chapter to the most popular fic I've got! (I'm flattered!). Enjoy, y'all.

#(#(#(#(#(#)#)#)#)#)#  
  
Wufei growled for a few more minutes at the door before he'd vented his spleen to a sufficient degree. When he was finally coherent enough to once more speak English, he started to stomp back towards the comfortable couch that Maxwell had forced him off of. That braided idiot... he was irresponsible, careless, wild, undependable, reckless, and... strange. The Asian youth reached the couch, but instead of once more lying down, he sat, frowning. There were many, many things that simply didn't make sense about that lack wit. He had obviously didn't have any access to a classical education, but Wufei had recognized small bits of his prattle that came from very scholarly texts. It simply didn't make sense. You always expected a person to talk about what they knew- it was simply part of humanity's mind.

Yuy, for example. It was very, very, very rare to hear him talk about anything but missions or the Gundams. And that made sense- they were what he knew, what he'd been trained for, and what he'd lived around. In fact... now that he thought about it, Wufei realized that the only times he had heard Yuy talk about anything _but_ those two subjects had been around or to Maxwell. Which brought him back to square one.

There was something that didn't fit about that longhaired idiot. He talked, and talked, and talked- but said next to nothing. The only people who talked like that were half-wits and people who were hiding something. And, much as he hated to admit it, Maxwell was no half-wit. So what was he hiding? It was a mystery, one that would require patience and research to solve. And those were Wufei's hidden strengths.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Duo was still chucking over the shouting incident as he came back from the mission. It had gone off without a hitch, and Trowa's only competition had been a few mobile dolls. While Bang-Boy had taken care of them, he and Heero had gotten inside the lab and pulled what they needed. Heero had even been able to run a virus program that had destroyed all the data the place had on this new toy without interference. Missions only ran this good once in a blue moon- and when every single one of them didn't really planned or thought past the next month, that was a freaking long time. It had reminded him, for one bittersweet moment, of another time, another partner, another world. But it had been nearly 16 years since he'd pulled a job with Kurama.

Thoughts of his lost twin banished his good humor. He didn't even know if Kurama was alive, let alone what he looked like or where he might be. Ah, all the jobs the pair of them had pulled. He and his twin had been the best two thieves in all of Makai. They had been legends, and for very good reason. Kuronue had once said the watching them work together was like watching two halves of one whole- a true partnership. With Heero, it was nearly the same.

When he'd first met pilot 01, Duo had been singularly unimpressed. Sure, he could pull a mission, but he had _no_ social skills at all. Half the job was blending in! Or, if not blending, in creating a harmless facade- and Heero was miserable at both of these.

And stealing Deathscythe's parts- that had been really over the top. Stealing from a thief!

But as time went on, and he had learned more about the oh-so-efficient Wing pilot, his opinion had changed. Duo wasn't quite sure when it had happened- maybe after their first official mission together, when he realized just how good Heero really was. Maybe it had started when after the escape from the hospital. Or maybe it had started when he'd finally noticed just how gorgeous the other boy was.

Duo stomped very heavily on that last thought. As a kitsune, neither he nor Kurama had ever lacked for potential lovers- and they hadn't turned that many of them down, either. With one notable exception, but that wasn't for the here and now. What he didn't need in the here and now was any deeper attachments then he already had.

As a human, or at least as a part human, Duo hadn't wanted to form any attachments to the species. They were supposed to be a convenient hiding horde for a decade or so, and then be out of his life. But it hadn't happened that way. First there had been Solo- the older, good-natured, tough-as-nails street rat that had welcomed the nameless waif into his care and given him a name. Then there was Father Maxwell and Sister Helen. Two people who had taken him in, and given him their name as well. Two people he had failed, failed badly.

As a kitsune, he very rarely formed deep attachments- it was just part of the nature. He felt a bit of regret at leaving some people behind, but nothing worse then that. Kurama was really the only person who he truly loved. As a human, this natural reserve had become more. Each human he opened to, he lost. Without fail.

After burying Father Maxwell and Sister Helen, he had sworn to himself that he wouldn't get attached to a human ever again. They were simply too fragile, too easily lost, for him to trust his emotions to them anymore.

But, someway, somehow, the pilots- Heero especially- had worked their way past his barriers and into the small, _very_ small, group of people he truly cared about. Quatre, with his soft, caring presence. Trowa, with his calm dependability. Wufei, with his strong sense of honor (and his ability to get ticked off so easily), and Heero. Most especially Heero.

There was no way he was abandoning them now.

#(#(#(#(#(#)#)#)#)#)#

A/N: Well. This chapter was both a way to get Wufei's take on Duo, and to let Duo ramble for a bit to get his character more fully formed. Like I said, the first several chapters are thoughts, with little plot action. That'll come in time. Next chapter, Trowa's take on Duo's... oddities. See ya then!

The Elven Archer Of Rivendell:  
Thanks for clearing up my memory! I love that you love my update. How'd you like number 3? (and why the HECK did they cancel game day...?)

Nightwings:  
Here's more! Don't know how good I can do about the 'now' though... I'll do my best to update fast! (never let it be said I can't take a hint!)

ZmajGoddess:  
Thank you for clearing me up. And thanks for liking this story. I honestly didn't think it'd be this popular... and if you want this story to the end, get in for the long haul- I've got LOTS in mind for it!

ChimeraDragon:  
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Here's the 'more like it' you couldn't wait for- enjoy!

cheerful-pinkstar:  
Yep, I did! Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! Muahaha! (care to guess how much sugar I've had...?)

Abyssinian:  
This chapter's a LITTLE longer... it's gotta be either short chapters or long updates, in my house- computer time is at a premium, and homework gets first calls. ;P Flufflyness will be in abbundence eventually, so be patient. (and ignoring crazyness is easy- if I can ignore my own, I can ignore anyone's, hey?)

Lolly sister:  
Thank you for the caution! I earnestly hope to avoid cliches and such other stuff in my work- the main reasion that Duo earns the title 'prankster' in here is because kitsune are trickster foxes... Some of the rambling that I had Duo do in here was to show that there WAS more to his character then just the jester. Hope you like it!

Windy River:  
Here it is! Hope you keep on liking it!

Kyra2:  
Thank you! The reason Duo and Kurama were killed was actually obliquely mentioned in this chapter. I wonder who might pick up on it... When I have the spare time (probably FAR in the future of this story) I'll go into Wufei's tale.

TA:  
Thanks again! And yeah, parents can be a bummer, or cool. There is no middle ground. Oh, and the reson Wuffles was so ticked was that he'd just be woken out of a sound and much needed sleep by a braided whirlwind screaming something directly into his ear. And with Duo's volume plus all the pilot's accute senses, that's gotta pack a whallop!

M-python-girl:  
Muahahaha! You are succumbing to my evil powers! (I've had waaaaay too muc ice cream...) Here's the update, so the fanatics can't touch me, nyah! And if they get ideas anyway, my father can send them packing- he's a minister, you see. Dealing with interpratations of 'the word' is his buisness.

Thank you SOOOOO much to everyone who reviewed! I hope you like this chapter, and buh-bye!


	4. Fears

Hello, hello, hello! Welcome to chapter 4! Thank yous to all my lovely reviwers will be at the bottom, so you can get right to the good stuff. Enjoy!

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The three pilots brought their Gundams back into the hanger of this particular safe house. It was a very odd one, being at the bottom of the lake- there was perpetually some water on the floor, and some lake wildlife to go with it. It wasn't enough to actually harm the Gundams in any way, but it was just enough to make sure all the pilots got soaked whenever they were in the area.

Trowa bore it without complaint. He'd endured far worse conditions for mobile suits in his days as a mercenary. Water only got you wet, after all. Mud got you wet, and dirty, and got gunk in every single joint it touched.

Back in his mercenary days, Trowa had made a habit of observing everyone. Not only had it been a way to make up for the fact that he really didn't have anything or anyone, but it was a very useful thing to do. It told you who would most likely pick on a lonely boy, it told you who was most likely to give that same boy a helping hand... and it had laid the foundation for his skills in infiltration.

When he had become a Gundam pilot, those habits hadn't gone away. He'd spent several hours observing the other pilots. And he'd noticed something very, very odd about Duo.

When people moved, it had a certain constancy. Quatre always moved gently, whether or not he thought someone was watching him. When he thought someone was watching, he stilled several unnecessary fidgets and gestures that he made when he thought he was alone. Probably a product of his political training- never let a gesture give away an emotion. The presence of people didn't changed how people moved beyond surface gestures; the basis stayed the same.

But Duo- when people were with Duo, he acted, well, like a clown. He jumped all over, rocketed off the walls, and in general acted like a human gas molecule. Oh, he demonstrated muscle, control, dexterity, and everything traits, but it was... rough. Like there was still more that could be done with it. Exactly what anyone could expect from a young L2 thief who was more then highly skilled. But there had been several times when Trowa had seen Duo while he was working on his Gundam. Duo hadn't known that anyone had been watching.

His movements had been drastically changed. Not overtly- a casual observer, someone who wasn't used to noticing people's movements, or someone who hadn't spent much time around Duo, wouldn't have noticed anything. The gestures and moves themselves hadn't changed- it was the way they were done that was so incredibly different. The movements were far smoother, more flowing, more connected, more... polished. As if he had been able to practise them for far longer then anyone else knew. As if he was... holding back around them.

It was odd. It was out of place. And Trowa's entire career, as a mercenary, mechanic, or spy, had taught him that when one thing was out of place, so was something else. He just had to watch and learn more.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Duo pretended to be running diagnostics on 'Scythe until both Heero and Trowa had gone back into the house. After checking that he really was alone in the hanger, he slowly got out of his Gundam and carefully examined his side. It was a good thing the other two hadn't noticed his Gundam taking a battering from the last Mobile Doll. That hit had jerked him against his safety straps- hard enough to seriously bruise his ribs. He wasn't going to let the others see it, mainly because within a day or two it would be gone. He didn't want to get caught trying to explain that.

Thanks to a blend of Reiki, very high ki content, and the peculiar mix of kitsune and human that he was, he could take multiple 'fatal' wounds before they started to have any major effects. He also healed faster even then Heero. Several times, he'd gotten a wound in a fight that should have been fatal to a full human, but had managed to heal them up to merely 'serious' by the time the other pilots had gotten to him. His special talents with metal helped, as well.

It was a combination of luck and skill that had kept the other pilots from finding out, so far- and Duo intended to keep the winning streak going as long as he could. He didn't want to reveal his deception to the other pilots. All of them (even Wufei) genuinely liked him- or what they knew of him, anyway. It was... rare. He was used to people wanting him for something. For his skills, for his wit, for his body. As either a kitsune or a human, this had held true.

Oh, there were a few exceptions- but they were always only one or two people, not a group of close... friends... like this one. It wasn't something he wanted to put in danger by telling them all he wasn't entirely- human. If they didn't believe him, they'd be on edge around him from then on. If they did believe him... well, no one had ever said that relations between humans and demons were 'smooth.'

In the beginning, it had simply been habit- don't let anyone find out. Don't give them anything to use over you. Never, ever let your guard down. These lessons had been beaten into him from both his lifetimes. But now... letting them find out might turn the others against him, and he didn't think he could take it.

He didn't want to lose anyone else he'd come to care for.

#(#(#(#(#(#)#)#)#)#)#

A/N: How'd ya like it? I really am sorry for the short chapters, but that's the way this fic is structured... and don't worry, they'll probably get longer when I get into actual plot and content. The first chapters are for characters! This one was for Trowa's observations, and to show that Duo is special- and lonely. Poor little fox... Next chapter, Hee-chan's ideas about the braided one! Hope you all like it! And now, thanks to the wonderful people who fan my ego:

cheeful-pinkstar:

Yeah... that sounds about right... here's the update- I always try to update on Thursdays, so the should be avalible by Fridays. Hope you liked my Trowa...

lolly sister:

Thank you! I'm glad you thought to warn me- and I always welcome constructive critisim. Please continue both to like this and to tell me when I've goofed up big time!

Windy River:

Here it is, updated Thursday, avalible by Friday! Hope you like it.

TA:

Thank you! Sorry for the short chapters- it's a combo of school work, other people claiming the computer, and other fics to work on. ::hangs head:: I try, I really do...

The Elven Archer of Rivendell:

Thank you! And no, it wasn't a jealous lover- though I am planning one or two of those in the future (bwahaha). It was kinda the anti-jealous lover, actually... Hope you like the new chapter!

ChimeraDragon:

Nope, Kurama and Heero are two seperate people. Heero ain't a red-head, after all... but good guess, though! Hope you didn't die of impatiance waiting for the chapter. Didja like it?

ZmajGoddess:

Luckily for Duo, by the time he's back, Wuffles is on his own mission. That's the problem with this life style- you can never hang around long enough to satisfy a grudge! Hope you liked the update.

Kyra2:

Yeah, each of the pilots notices- in their own way, of course. That's what the early chapters are about, mainly. As time goes on, stranger and stranger things start to happan... Okay, I'll stop the plug. And may I add that you are my most perceptive reviewer so far? It does have to do with the turned down would-be lover! ::hands over cookies as a reward:: You're very good! (of course, I won't be going into this for many, many chapters to come... consider this a preview!)

Well, folks, that's all! I'll see ya next week, unless I feel the urge for a super fast update (unlikely- there's so many various stuff due at school to really spend too much time on it... ;P). Oh, well. See ya later!


	5. Curiosities

Well, here's chapter 5! Welcome, all! Thanks will be at the bottom of the story, and I do hope you like it.  


#(#(#(#(#(#)#)#)#)#)#

Heero let his fingers run on autopilot as he typed the mission report. He could do it half-conscious, drugged to his ears, or blindfolded. He had, during various parts of his training.

The automatic movement let him go over a problem in his mind with all the laws and logic that years of rigorous training had made second nature. But those routines, routines that had cracked every other puzzle set before him, made absolutely no dent in this obstacle. It seemed to defy all the logic he threw at it. But, of course, that was typical of Pilot 02.

Duo simply didn't seem to abide by the laws that had governed everything else in Heero's realm. His extravagant looks and attitude should have made him an absolute failure at missions, _should_ have made him stand out in any situation- but he completed as many missions as Heero, and could far surpass him at theft and undetected movement. He was messy, sloppy, and hyperactive- but paid so much attention to detail he tell when someone had moved any item of his mess by so much as a millimeter. He could almost never be seen exercising, or working out, yet Heero _knew_ from sparring with him that he was far stronger and more skilled then _anyone_ would think from watching him.

So many inconsistencies, so many things that seemed to pass right by everything that really should be... and to top it all off, there was his ability to get through his shields. At the last safe house, Duo had dragged him to the nearby town and into a place he called an arcade. He had seen no point in wasting money on brightly colored machines, but the braided boy had wheedled and begged until he had given in, just to stop the pleas. That afternoon was now one of his most vivid memories... and he hadn't protested quite so hard the next time Duo had dragged him out.

But was his skill at piloting that was the oddest thing about him. Pilot 02 had come into military life dramatically late, compared to the others. He, of course, had been trained for years for this. Barton had lived with mercenaries, Chang had been raised to fight, and even Winner had experience in commanding and battle. Duo had been a street rat. It didn't make sense. One year of training didn't make a pilot out of a thief- but Duo was the best pilot among them. He could get his Gundam- or anything else he was flying- to pull stunts that should have been impossible.

It was an inconsistency- one that needed to be investigated.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Once the ache in his side had started to ease, Duo really did do a diagnostic on 'Scythe. The controls had felt a little sluggish, and that could easily cost him his life in the next fight. As he worked, he listened to all the chatter around him. Most people thought of metal as solid, slow, hard, etc., but it really wasn't' true. Different pieces communicated constantly- they told each other if there was extra stress in one place or another, they moaned about who was rusting and who wasn't, they complained about their burdens... it really was a wonder that humans hadn't noticed it. What did they think all the metallic creaks and groans in a big building meant, anyway?

The Gundams ignored the 'lesser' pieces of metal around them, and talked amongst themselves. _It's getting boring in here,_ Sandrock complained. _There hasn't been a mission for me for a long time._ That said something, because Sandrock was usually very patient and deliberate- rather like the rock that was part of his name.

_You should feel lucky!_ Wing replied._ No mission is better then mission after mission after mission, with no time in between to fix the scorch marks on your paint!_ Duo had to laugh at that- what would the expression on Heero's face be if he learned that his Gundam was more interested in the state of its paint job then the state of its engine?

_What scorch marks?_ demanded Heavyarms. _You barely put one blaster into the last mission- _I_ was the one doing the fighting!_ Heavyarms was almost the opposite of its pilot- it loved to talk and argue with the others. It was a good thing that Wufei currently had a mission of his own- Nataku always was ready to get into a fight, too.

What was interesting about Wufei's Gundam was that it was the one with the most pronounced sense of... gender, was the best word. Wing, Sandrock, and Deathscythe all felt vaguely male, while Heavyarms felt slightly female. Nataku, however, was unmistakably female. It was funny, really- the guy who wouldn't fight females and thought most of them needed to be protected had a Gundam that had the strongest feminine identity Duo had sensed in _any_ piece of metal outside the Makai. There had to be a story behind it somewhere, but he wasn't going to pry. It might invite prying into his own background.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Heero had finished the mission report, and was now at the door of the hanger, watching Duo work on his Gundam. Every so often, he would laugh, but Heero couldn't see why. There wasn't anyone else here, and he wasn't talking to anyone...

Heero frowned as he saw Duo being very ginger about his side. Had he gotten hurt? Heero went back over his memories of the mission. He and Duo had been together the entire time in the labs, so it hadn't happened then. And neither of them had gotten hit with anything on the way to the Gundams. Once they were in the Gundams, they had contacted Trowa and flew to the nearest safe house. Trowa had been in the lead, and Duo had been last in the line. It had taken him a moment to catch up. When Heero had asked why, Duo said that one Mobile Doll had had a bit of fight left, and he'd stopped to put it out of his misery. Had the Doll managed to get in a hit before it went down?

Heero frowned and started forward.

#(#(#(#(#(#)#)#)#)#)#

A/N: Oh, yeah, that was evil. That was really just evil. Life's about to get intresting for all concerned. And if any of you kill me because of that cliff-hanger, you won't get to hear the rest of the story. Muahaha.

ChimeraDragon:  
Yeah, I guess Heero's hair color really doesn't have anything to do with it- I was just thinking about Kurama in HIS human form, is all. And the only reason I can update so fast is by keeping the chapters short. It'd take way longer if I made incredibly long chapters. Hope waiting for the chapter didn't hurt you too bad...

ZmajGoddess:  
Actually, all four of the pilots have noticed, now. This chapter was Heero's, and in the second chapter Quatre was thinking about how odd Duo was. Sorry if I didn't make that as clear as the other ones were. Hope you liked this chapter- and please don't hurt me for the cliff hanger!

The Elven Archer of Rivendell:  
Intresting, it shall be. I promise it. Now if only I can live to the intresting part...

Windy River:  
As soon as I can, I promise! If I leave that thing up for too long without a ending, I think I'll be facing a lynch mob!

cheerful-pinkstar:  
I promise to update ASAP, don't worry. It'll go by fast, you'll see!

Lolly sister:  
It won't really be a matter of 'figuring out.' It'll be more like Duo is in a situation where he HAS to show what he can really do. The others might know that something's off about Duo, but they aren't ready to think of the 'demon' explination. It'd be like one of us saying that the reason the sun rises and sets is that a God of Goddess wakes up or goes to sleep. Thank you for the compliments on my writing!

Anonymous Smiley Face:  
Yeah, it would be- but I think reality's got a grudge against me or something! And I NEVER give up on a fic.

Shaeric Draconis:  
Don't worry, you'll get to know it without much trouble- I've only seen about three epidodes of the Gundam Wing anime (plus Endless Waltz), but I still know what it's about. I'm flattered that you were interested in this without even knowing some of the characters- and I hope you like this chapter!

M-python-girl:  
Oooo- drat. Now I've got to find someplace where the fanatics won't think to look, especially after that cliff-hanger. I know- how about right under their noses? They never seem to look there.

Spellhorn:  
Here's the update! Actually, it's going to turn out that all the pilots have some amount of demon blood; it's just that Duo's is the greatest, being half-and-half. Quatre kinda mentions this in the second chapter: about how the pilots feel different to his space heart, and Duo's degree of different is the greatest. Case in point, for Quatre- do you think having a space heart is a fully human trait?

Comechatcha:  
Thank you! I'm really pleased that you think the idea is original. I always try to do that with my ideas, even the ones that seem not-so-original at first. Hope you can wait for the next update!

Kyra2:  
Glad you liked my cooking! Trowa is like that... he makes sure he knows all the facts before he decides anything. He never leaps to snap judgements. I'm really happy you liked how I wrote him. He's tougher then he sounds! :phew: Not as bad as Heero, though. What do you think of how I did him?

Mercurialgreen:  
Thank you! I actually think that GW/YYH combos are the most common of the lot. There could be more, I guess, but of the crossovers you see, this one shows up most often. Maybe 'cause they're both so popular? Thank you for for complemets on the structure- but it will be a while before the YYH gang shows up. They're still basicly the same- it's just, they're in a new time period. Hope you liked the new chapter!

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Okay, okay, I've got a treat for you all: I'm going to work my ass off and get out the next chapter of this far sooner then next Thursday. I don't know what day it will be, exactly, but it will be earlier then usual. This is to make up for the EVIL cliff hanger that I stuck in here at the end. See ya then!


	6. Caring

Well, fans, I promised it and here it is: a superfast update to make up for my evil little cliff-hanger. It's even a little longer then my usual chapters, so ya all'd better be grateful! Hmmm... what else... notes and thank yous to quick reviewers will be at the bottom, and there probably won't be another update for this until next week- I've got other things I need to work on. And I think I'll let you get on with the reading now.

  
#(#(#(#(#(#)#)#)#)#)#

Duo nearly fell off Deathscythe when a hand clamped on his arm. "Heero!" he yelped. "Why'd ya sneak up on me?!"

Heero ignored the question. "Did you get injured at the end of the mission?"

Duo's mask stayed in place, while inside he froze. "Why 'd ya ask?"

Heero's frown deepened. "You're favoring your right side. You weren't before you left, and you remained with me for the greatest part of the mission. The only time you could have been hit was at the end."

Oh, fuck. How not to lie... "Aw, Heero, it's not bad. Just bruising, it'll be all better in a few days." Entirely true, that.

"Come on," Heero said shortly, pulling Duo down the scaffolding and out of the hangar.

"Wha-wha-"

"The ribs could be cracked." The last thing they needed was for any small wound to get worse. All the pilots had too much to do to allow one of their number to be taken out of the action by something so simple. Why hadn't the baka asked Trowa or himself to look at it!? If the ribs were cracked, they could fully break with another serious blow- in battle or on a mission that could be fatal at the worst, and completely immobilizing at the very best. Duo could have been stranded far from any of them, with no way to get help!

Duo let Heero pull him along, focusing all his energies to healing the bruise at his side up to the point where it really was very minor. He _couldn't_ let Heero see it as anything other than superficial- if he saw how serious it really was, there would be awkward questions in a day or two, after the 'serious' bruise had disappeared. He didn't even pay any attention to the water soaking into his boots, a sensation he normally hated worse then any cat.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Quatre jerked his head up from his book as his space heart started to react. Closing his eyes and focusing exclusively on the sensation, Quatre tried to figure out what it could be. There were emotions... anger, fear, worry, _fear_... but there was something else, too. Almost like... energy moving...

A sharp bang called him abruptly from his near trace. The book he had been holding, a heavy volume that one of his sisters had sent to him, had slipped out of his hands and fallen to the floor. As he bent to pick it up, Heero and Duo walked into the room. Duo was being pulled along by Heero, and didn't seem too happy about it. Deciding to get out of the way, Quatre grabbed his book and headed for the upstairs to see what Trowa was doing.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

"Sit," Heero ordered Duo, pointing to the couch that Quatre had vacated, and going over to the cabinet to get the First Aid kit. Or, to be more specific, their extended version of it. There hopefully weren't very many other kits around that included morphine, equipment for stitches, and probes to dig out bullets.

Duo sat; fighting Heero wasn't going to make that big a difference. He couldn't show his real speed, and without it, he had no advantages- the other pilot was far stronger, and had a more formal education in fighting. Duo would actually be at disadvantage, because he constantly had to keep it in mind to slow down and be careful, and couldn't focus fully on the fight.

Why was Heero making such a fuss, anyway? He knew that Duo never lied- or at least, never lied outright. It shouldn't be that big of a deal.

Heero searched the kit until he found some salve for bruises, as well as bandages in case the ribs were cracked. Why was the baka making light of a possible injury? It could have very serious ramifications, even it really _was_ as light as he was implying, which was doubtful; Pilot 02 had a noted history of making light of his injuries.

Once he had found the items he was looking for, Heero strode back over to where Duo was sitting. "Take off you shirt," he ordered, glaring at the other pilot.

"Heero, really, it's fine-" Duo tried to insist.

"Now."

Duo sighed. That had gone just about as expected... without any more protests, he pulled off his customary black jacket and the white shirt beneath it. As he did so, he snuck a look at his side. He had managed to heal it about up to the point where it really _was_ nothing serious, but it still looked quite bad.

"There, ya see?" he grumbled. "Just bruised!" The small part of his mind that hadn't been swamped with fear when Heero had commented on the injury started notice things. Like the fact that he had his shirt off around one of the most gorgeous guys he'd ever seen. And the fact that said guy would in all likelyhood be getting closer to examine the bruise.

Duo clamped down on his thoughts before they could start to affect his body. If he thought explaining the _injury_ would be awkward, explaining _that_ would be simply impossible.

Heero looked over the bruise carefully. It showed none of the indications that there were broken ribs underneath, but showed an impressive range of color all the same. It would need the salve, but not the bandages.

His breathing suddenly started to speed up. Annoyed at himself, he clamped back down on his body. "Hold still."

Duo nearly jumped off the couch as Heero began to put the chilly salve on. Once he'd gotten over the feeling of the cold stuff on his skin, he was stunned by how gentle Heero was being. The only times Heero had touched him before had been in sparing sessions, or in missions. There had been no room for gentleness, then. But now... he could hardly even feel the touch at all, let alone pain from it.

Heero looked up at him as he twitched. "Ticklish..." Duo muttered, by way of explanation. And he was; but on his feet, not his ribs. It wasn't really a lie...

When Heero had finished with the salve, Duo quickly bounced up and grabbed his shirt. "Thanks for the stuff Heero!" he called as raced back to the hangar. He _so_ did not need to spend any more time in the company of a guy who had _no_ idea how sexy he really was! It was too wearing on the hormones.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

After Duo raced off, Heero packed up the equipment, thinking. That bruise really had been minor; in a week it would have been gone. So why had he reacted the way he had? It had been a simple hurt, not like the bullet, knife, and shrapnel wounds they had all had at some point. They had all been trained to deal with those wounds, and anything else that might come up. Duo could have easily applied the ointment without any help from Heero. So why had he done it himself? It was like something inside him had forced him to. Like something... cared.

#(#(#(#(#(#)#)#)#)#)#

A/N: Ah, Heero's starting to admit that he cares. I was laughing so hard when he was ranting to himself about Duo getting hurt and trying to hide his worry with exuses about their mission load... and it looks like Duo is slipping on the 'don't form any deeper attachments' rule. Things are most definatily heating up!

I hope you all liked my little chat amoung the Gundams last chapter- I was trying to give them personalities very differant from their pilots without making them all exact opposites of their pilots. It was fun, trying to come up with personality quirks for them... as well as genders.

And, thank yous to the reviewers:

Nightwings:  
It's allright, and don't I know that schoolwork sucks! I intend to keep this story going for a long, long time- I hope you keep up with it!

Comechatcha:  
I had fun with Nataku, too... It just seemed right. I think that even Wufei thinks of Nataku as 'she,' thanks to his wife. Of course, getting him to admit this would require lenghty torture. Thank you for reviewing, and I hope you like the update!

M-python-girl:  
Pepper for the bunnies noses! And with a few rumors and a little luck, I can set all the different fanatics at each other's throats! You said they weren't too bright... Thank you for your reall nice remarks regarding my stories. I hope this was fast enough to escape from your fanatics clutches.  
  
ZmajGoddess:  
Yep, I do. I know that they're really hypcritical, but they're just SO much fun to write! Muahahaha! Thank you for agreeing not to hurt me until I got the next chapter up. Now, if I'm very lucky, you'll be so busy reading that I can run and hide.  
  
cheerful-pinkstar:  
Here it is, faster then normal!  
  
lolly sister:  
That's the thing about humans: we only see what we want to. Take Heero in this chapter: he should have been able to see that the bruise looked like it had been healing for several days. But his logic couldn't accept that, so he didn't notice it. I hope you like how these two are developing, and thank you for taking the time to review!  
  
phoenix1:  
Thank you for liking the story, and for not killing me. I like life, I really do... Thank you for your compliments, as well. I knew that I wanted to make Duo a kitsune (who doesn't?), and I knew without a doubt that he would be a black kitsune. The idea of a pair of white/black fox twins was simply too apealling!  
  
ChimeraDragon:  
White vs. Black kitsune, who're twins... won't they look fine? But, yeah, I wanted to get 1x2 in here, and I didn't want to do twincest, so they couldn't have been one person. Besides, Kurama and Heero are a little too different to mash together in my mind. Heero's demon blood... is going to be a suprise. Muahaha!  
  
crazy-lil-nae-nae:  
I'll try, I'll try- but the next update probably won't be for some time, I'm bushed after this one. Thank you for reviewing!  
  
Windy River:  
And here we have it, my fastest update yet! Though the next one will probably take a while...  
  
Anonymous Smiley Face:  
I'd put the little face in here, but ff.n doesn't let you do that anymore (grrr...), and anonymous smiley face has a certain ring to it... And I hope you like this chapter. Since you're the only one who uses the face, I can say with a certain amount of surity that it's you. See ya next time!  
  
Hn:  
This chapter's a little longer- but I'm not only working on other fics, but also school work! And fighting off every other member of my family (four other people) for rights to this machiene. So it's either the short chapters or a long time between updates... But I'm flattered that you think my story is so good! At least this update was soon, hey?  
  
inthefire2002:  
Thank you! I had SO much fun with that- I was laughing to hard to type at one point. Glad you liked it!  



	7. Leaving

And on to chapter 7! Sorry for the long wait, but after that really fast update, I wanted a break- and I was kicked off the computer for the week, (damn sneaky parents and their 'strait A' obessions) so I had to severly limit my ff.n activites. So, I hope you like this lil' chappie, that I had to sneak and hide to write, that I sweated over, that I slaved for... okay, ignore me, I think I ate too much of my Halloween candy...

  
#(#(#(#(#(#)#)#)#)#)#

Duo retreated to the hanger and continued to work on Deathscythe for the rest of the day. The unconcerned chatter from all the metals around him helped to loosen his nerves from the harp-string tension that Heero had unknowingly managed to wind them into. It also kept his aibou in as good a shape as possible.

In this life, that meant the difference between finishing a mission whole or in pieces.

_Pieces is not good, _'Scythe commented. _Pieces get brought to the scrap heap. We do not want to be pieces._

Duo looked up at the Gundam's blank face, frowning. When had that thing learned to listen to his stray thoughts?

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Heero spent the remnants of the afternoon perfecting several programs he was writing for their next mission into an OZ base. A problem that they often encountered was the personnel could communicate in ways that hadn't been anticipated. This was meant to stop that.

At one base, the officers had e-mailed each other from the various rooms they had been trapped in when the pilots had set a fake alarm off to get into the base without interference. This had resulted in their having far less time to complete the mission then had been anticipated- and had almost caused them to be caught by sent reinforcements. Everyone in their party had taken wounds as they had gotten out.

Heero suddenly frowned as he recalled the image of the large slash on Duo's arm, courtesy of an over ambitious solider who knew how to use a knife. That man had learned, too late, that Duo knew how to handle one better. But that wound shouldn't have been there in the first place. If he, Heero, had fully thought through that plan, he would have realized that the officers would have more ways to contact each other then just the com units. And that slash would not have been there.

Next time, he would not make the same mistake.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

The next mission came two days later. This time it was for all four in the safe house: Heero, Duo, Trowa, and Quatre. Its goals were about the same as the last, but this time they were supposed to steal an experimental alloy that might bring OZ's suits closer to being made with Gundamium.

Quatre was going to attack a factory that supplied parts to many nearby bases. When those bases sent out their Leos and Dolls to counterattack, Trowa would come out of hiding and help to deal with them. Duo felt that this was just as well- separating those two on a mission like this wouldn't have been the brightest move on anyone's part.

Meanwhile, half an hour before Quatre hit the factory, Heero and Duo would infiltrate the base and lab where the alloy had been created. As the troops at the base ran out to deal with the reported pair of Gundams, they would use the activity to secure the metal sample and data surrounding it. Both of these would then be sent on to the Docs through very, very, _very_ secure channels. They were nothing if not paranoid.

Duo grumbled to himself through the entire pre-mission checks. Damn doctors... his personal opinion was that all they wanted was new inventions to monkey around with. The only thing that made this mission marginally acceptable in his mind was the fact that there would be a new metal to examine before they sent it off. He always liked meeting new friends.

But this mission felt too much like the last one for comfort. As much as he wished it otherwise, OZ as a whole wasn't stupid. They _did_ learn from previous experience, and _were_ capable of recognizing a diversion. The idea was to throw them off with the second Gundam helping the original attacker, and the early infiltration- but was it enough?

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Quatre laughed softly to himself as Sandrock flew out of the hangar. It was almost like his Gundam was eager and ready to go on this mission.

"You've been patient, haven't you?" he murmured to his faithful battle suit. "A whole month in that leaky hanger, watching as all the others went on missions, while I cultivated business contacts in the area. Well, now we have a job to do."

He could almost feel the engines push a little harder.

After setting the course into Sandrock's computer, Quatre opened a channel with the other pilots. "Is everything on schedule?"

"Yeah, 04, 01 and I are just about to go in. Blast some Ozzies for us, willya?"

"Sure, 02. 03, are you in position?" Quatre felt the usual flicker of worry for Trowa as he spoke this question. Some time ago he had come to a decision: Hell was bad. Battle and war were worse. And even worse then those two was knowing someone you cared deeply for was fighting in them.

"Ready, 04."

And the fears could temporarily rest. "Attack will start in 45 minutes. All pilots stand ready."

#(#(#(#(#(#)#)#)#)#)#

A/N: Well... that chapter was filler on the way to significent plot happanings. I hope I don't have too many of you screaming in frustration at this pace... er, don't kill me, please...

By the way, how many of you went out for Halloween (those of you who live in America, anyway, cause I don't think it's celebrated anywhere else)? Though I am a few months away from 17, I went out (in a gypsy costume), had tons of fun, got lots of candy, and I have no intentions of giving up my Halloween nights of trick-or-treating until I'm well into college. And so ::THHHHBBBB:: to all the party-poopers out there! Bwahahaha! (Care to guess just how much of that candy I've had already...?

M-python-girl:  
Ah, but if the bunnies have gas masks on, how can they smell? And who needs to talk? All I need is a few convieniently left stories... maybe some fliers, media campains... Hey, if it worked for the elections, it'll work for this. (I cannot believe that freaking monkey is sitting in the Oval Office AGAIN! ;P) Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Oh, and thank you for reading and reviewing my poems in Fallen Angel.

Duo's Brother:  
Sorry, they don't show up for a long time. But they will eventually be here, don't worry! I love them too much to completely abandon them. Sorry, too, for the long chapter wait... I'm usually quicker, really I am!

inthefire2002:  
Oh, ya. Their bodies react, but only Duo realizes what's happaning... Heero has a serious learning curve coming up. Bwahaha. And yea, Duo's always been... creative like that. He never lies, but it's almost impossible to get the truth from him. Or, all of it, anyway. You know, I think I'm having way to much fun with this... anyway, thank you for revieiwng and letting me know you liked it!

ZmajGoddess:  
Soon, soon... all in good time. Here's the new chapter, hope you like it!

lolly sister:  
The Gundams were fun... really fun... and you can see, the other pilots are about to start noticing. Quatre's the most... faniciful? Imaginative? after Duo- it'll take the others a while to realize it, 'cause they're too pragmatic. Hope you liked it!

Windy River:  
Not so soon this time, sorry. But I should be back on a weekly sceduale (I cannot spell) now, so don't worry!

foxhiei:  
Sorry this isn't 'soon.' Don't worry though, I do weekly updates usually- update on Thursday, avalible by Friday (at least, in my little section of the world). I hope you liked this chapter!

Anonymous Smiley-face:  
I'll take you on trust- until you steal something or try to embezle my funds, or some other heinous crime. And who are you kidding about obsessions? I sold my soul to fanfiction YEARS ago! Hope you liked the chapter, and thanks for reviewing!

TA:  
Here's the more- though it isn't all that much more. When I finish Pirates and G-boys of the Carribean (another fic of mine) these chapters will get longer. Til then, they stay short. Sorry... but I'm glad you like it!

Shaeric Draconis:  
Yeah, when you get to know it, the characters really are fun to play with... remarkably like GW, that way! Hope you liked the chapter (and thank you for reviewing my poems in Fallen Angel)!

Kyra2:  
But this chapter was so much slower! Sorry... And don't worry- you commented on this one, and it's the thought that counts (who turned me into grandma...?) And Heero will be learning... (I'm going to have so much fun with that) It's going to be missions and Duo's powers getting harder to hide for a while, now. At least it's plot action, hey?

cheerful-pinkstar:  
But slow again- don't worry though, I'm back in my groove! Thanks for reviewing!

Ashen Skies:  
Thank you for reading my stories! (It's nice to be an acknowleged reviewer... or maybe it means I'm just too annoying to be ignored. Either way, thank you for spending time on me.) I'm going to try and edge in some background as I work on the plot (which is about to start- next chapter, in fact) and you're right- I probably should include a bit of a glossary for what several of the YYH terms mean (You'll see that next chapter, too). Also, the YYH people don't show up for a long time, so I'm hoping that by then some of the Laws Of The Universe will have been established. Thank you again and again for reviewing my story, and for liking it!

See ya'll next chapter! Enjoy!


	8. Begining

Welcome to Chapter 8, everyone, and I hope you like it. Also, an important announcement to anyone who reads any of my other fics: Do to high parental displeasure, I have been kicked off the computer for a lengthy period of time. This means that for a while, this will be the only fic I can update (thanks to its short chapters). Sorry everyone, but enjoy this story all the same!

Duo and Heero moved quickly up and over the perimeter wall that marked the outer edges of their target base. There were both cameras and sentries guarding against intrusions, but both pilots avoided them with practiced ease.

Once they were over the wall, Duo went for the nearest bit of shadow he could find, while Heero started to plant the nearly invisible explosives that would help to cover their retreat from the base. Duo let his eyes linger on Heero's precise, unfaltering movements for a second, before yanking his mind back to his own task: finding where the new metal was being kept.

The small thief slid along various passages, making sure that no one caught even a glimpse of him. This mission depended on their not being detected inside the base until Quatre had made his move.

As he moved, Duo let his ki drift through the walls and into the rest of the building, seeking the presence of something unfamiliar. The new metal should be easily detectable to him, and there was more than enough metal in the building itself to make moving his ki along it easy...

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Heero felt Duo slip off into the rest of the building- he couldn't attribute the knowledge to any one of his senses, but he knew it all the same. He didn't pause in his movements, but for a fraction of a second, he glanced up in the direction that his partner had taken. This mission was nothing new, but still...

Clamping down on his emotions, Heero finished with the explosives for the area, and moved on to try and find a room with a connection to the base's computers. He needed to upload the new virus, and to get the information on the metal downloaded. He ignored the twinge that went through his system as the direction he chose brought him farther away from Duo.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Quatre waited, he and his Gundam concealed behind the forest cover near the factory. Trowa's was hidden in a local cave system that OZ had never mapped fully enough to realize how large it was. When the reinforcements from the base came, he would be beside Quatre in a few minutes.

Repressing the desire to fidget from battle-tension, Quatre glanced at the timer that Sandrock's computer was displaying. 10 more minutes until the attack.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Trowa sat calmly in Heavyarms, watching the same timer count down. He was as impatient and tense as Quatre was, but he didn't show it. Visibly showing nerves was a sign of weakness, and he had never been able to afford that. The energy coiling with him would have to find another outlet.

He moved his gaze over the timer again. 8 minutes until Quatre threw himself at the base.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Duo paused in his movements down a hallway as his ki touched something... alien. Something unfamiliar. That would be the new metal, then. Carefully fixing its location into his memory, he turned back to track down Heero. This was actually a lot easier than it sounded; Heero not only had his laptop on him, but also the various metals and weapons that he used. If all else failed, he could always follow the trail of explosives that Heero would be leaving behind him like breadcrumbs. He glanced at the timer on his wrist as he passed the point where they had entered the base. 5 minutes left until Quatre started the 'distraction.'

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Heero had found a connection easily, downloaded the virus, and was now in the data. The problem was, the scientists had run more experiments than expected, and the information was taking longer to download and copy than anticipated. It would take until past when Quatre had attacked the base- and he and Duo would every second they could get at that point.

A soft sound behind him brought him on full alert, nearly had him swing around to fire, but he recognized Duo's careful tread. It was a good thing that it was night, and the only people moving around were patrols- it made the chances their being walked in on that much smaller.

"How goes the hacking?" Duo whispered in a nearly soundless voice.

"Longer than anticipated. We're going to have less time after the attack than planned for." He didn't ask if Duo had found their target, and knew how to get to it; he wouldn't have been there if he hadn't.

"We'll just have to moved faster than, won't we?" Both pilots were looking at their timers, and they both knew that time had run out a few seconds after Duo had finished speaking.

A/N: Okay, I promised Ashen Skies that I would have a glossary in here for people who aren't really familiar with YYH in here, so here goes:

Kitsune: Magical/demon foxes who usually have many tails. Usually are considered tricksters, but are very, very deadly when angry. Specialties generally include stealing, illusions, and shape shifting.

Kurama: A main character from YuYu Hakusho, and a kitsune who fled into a human body after being seriously hurt. For purposes of this fic, he's Duo's twin brother Neither knows that the other is currently alive, because they were both badly wounded at the same time, and they don't know that the other made it to the Ningenki- the human realm.

Makai: The demon realm. There's also heaven, where the gods work and live, and where souls go if they've been good.

Ki: Personal energy/spirit/magic that everyone has and that can be bused in a wide variety of things. Also called Rei (spirit), Reiki (spirit energy), and your aura. It can be used for just about anything, provided both that the user has enough to accomplish the task, and the ability/knowledge to control it. A knowledgeable observer can tell many things from someone else's aura, including how much the other has left, the predominate emotion of the other, and major aptitudes of the other.

Kuronue: I don't know if I spelled that correctly, but he was a friend (and partner in crime) of Kurama, and thus Duo, while they were still full Kitsune. He was killed about 100 years before they had to flee to the Ningenki.

Umm... If I forgot anything, or you want clarification on anything else, ask me, and I'll put it in next chapter. Also, every time I use a new word or phrase, I'll explain it at the bottom. That should help anyone who doesn't know the series...

And now, the thankyous! They're going to be short, because I don't have that much time left!

foxhiei: Thanks for the complement, and I hope you like the new chapter! And if it keeps you at the computer, well, that's more time you can spend writing, right?

Windy River: Here's the update- though it's going to be the only story to get them for a while. I hope you liked it!

cheerful-pinkstar: Yeah, I guess I am lucky to have Halloween... free candy! Yes! Hope you liked the chapter!

atalante: NO, Treize is NOT Kurama! That would scare me... Kurama's his own self, like always. Besides, Treize is older then Duo, and he and Kurama ran to the Ningenki at the same time. Glad you like the story!

hoshi-tachi: Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU! You're the first person who actually LIKES the chapter length... yes! And you know, I bet that when I'm 26, I'll still be out there in a costume. Don't mess with my candy, dammit! I'm really glad you like the story, and I hope you liked the new chapter!

inthefire2002: I've got an idea about this planned for somewhere in the future, and it's going to be very fun... I'm glad you like my story, I thank you for reviewing, and I hope you liked the chapter!

Kyra2: Don't knock the chapter length, that's what's letting me update while I'm supposed to be banned! I'm really happy that you like the story enough to get frustrated, though. Hope you liked the latest snippet!

ZmajGoddes: Well, here's some non-filler! I hope that you enjoyed it!

Hello!: I really kinda doubt that this is your account name, but it's all I got, so... I know that there's a separate category for Crossovers, but my work is mainly in the GW universe, so that's where I like to file it. There's plenty of other authors who do the same, too. But I hope you read the story, and I hope you liked it!

M-python-girl: Now, let's see... what will be the worst for the bunnies ears... I know! Britney Spears singing along with the N'sync and the Backstreet Boys! At full volume! Should drive the fanatics nuts, too. And I'll just have to hire a group of elite agents to take care of the fanatics for me... :sigh: And since I know you read Pirates and G-boys of the Caribbean, I'm really sorry I can't update it for a long time. But I hope you enjoy this story while you wait!


	9. Second Stage

Hello, and here's chapter 9! I'm in a good mood this week (and my parents are out of the house so I won't waste the opportunity) so this chapter's up a day early! Before we start, I have to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who has read and reviewed. If you just read, you get a littler thank you, but a thank you none the less. How the heck am I supposed to know if you LIKE it or not if you don't review?!? ... I'll stop ranting now... you can start reading. Individual notes are at the bottom.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

The factory that Quatre was currently tearing into was better defended than many of its compatriots because it supplied several vital parts to the OZ bases in the area. They were hoping that this would help the OZ higher-ups believe that this was their only target, but they weren't depending on it. Quatre moved quickly, using Sandrock's curving blades to strike at the larger buildings and warehouses, where vital machinery and supplies would be kept. And where as few people as possible would be at this time of night.

A death in a battle was one thing, but the death of an innocent civilian was another matter entirely. Deaths were something that weighed upon his space heart, and each burst of energy that flared and died made the weight greater. It was hard enough when the deaths were those of soldiers who had trained and were geared for death. It was so much worse when it was an unexpected death of someone who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Sandrock's computer beeped a message: The sensors had picked up radio messages being broadcast from the base. The reinforcements would be here soon.

Quatre sped up his attacks, preparing as much clear ground as he could for the coming battle.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Still hidden in the cave, Trowa watched as the computer in Heavyarms picked up the same messages. It would take the bases approximately 20 minutes to get the reinforcements to Quatre. It would take him about 5 minutes to get to the same person, but he couldn't start until they had reached Quatre, otherwise someone might warn the bases to send more troops out. The goal was to prolong the battle as much as possible, so that Heero and Duo could get out of the base undetected.

Trowa gritted his teeth, the only sign of tension he let show. Quatre would have to hold his own for those five minutes.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Duo and Heero knew the exact instant that the message of attack on the factory reached the base. This wasn't exactly a difficult trick; the alarm that went off and nearly gave them heart attacks was a very helpful clue. The sounds of pounding feet and shouts that followed it was an even better one. But they didn't move; the downloading was almost done, and it was data they needed. They would just have to wait it out.

It was a nerve racking section of time, watching the small bar on the screen slowly fill. Duo had moved to stand by the door, to take care of anyone who might happen to walk in to this little side office.

When the computer had finally finished, Heero had it packed up and was by the door fast almost the after-images from the screen had faded.

Without a sound, the pair slipped out into the now deserted hallway. Using the maid corridors would be impossible now; there was too much activity. Luckily, this base was built pretty much along the lines of a box; following the ductwork to where they wanted to go would be no problem.

Especially with the metal that made up the system helpfully answering Duo's questions about which turn to take next, but he had no intentions of telling Heero about that.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Sandrock's computer beeped a warning. The troops were coming in fast.

Guiding his Gundam away from the ruin of the factory, Quatre turned to face the oncoming Mobile Suits. There were slightly more than anticipated... enough to cause him to frown with worry. But he had faced greater odds, and he would not back down- not with his friend's lives depending on his being able to provide enough of a distraction.

Quatre took another look at the numbers on the screen in front of him- and hoped Trowa would get there soon.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Duo and Heero were in the system of airways that ran throughout the base- and were moving steadily towards their target. Duo was leading the way, as he was the one who knew there the new metal was being held. Heero was following, with his computer safely away in a padded backpack that had been specifically made for Heero's body and computer.

They were about five minutes behind schedule.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

A/N: ...I'm such a hypocrite... Every time a fic I'm reading has a cliff-hanger, I scream and screech. But I seem unable to avoid them when I right. Oh, well. :grins: It's a cross I'll have to bear... Notes to follow!

ZmajGoddes:   
Here's the next chapter- Enjoy. I keep telling people, the length is what's letting me update so fast, but they never listen... 

cheerful-pinkstar:Sugar is the manna of life, and chocolate is the ambrosia of the gods. This chapter is short too... sorry, but that is the way of life.

lolly sister:   
Thank you many times for your suportive reviews! Getting around rules is a specialty of mine... but there are limits. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! 

Windy River:   
Updates I can do, but I don't know about soon. Not with my parents on my case, anyway. Hope you liked it! 

KentouKurige:   
Updates I do, at a fairly regular pace: updates on Thrusdays, avalible on Fridays. Unless, of course, something happaning in real life that keeps away from a comupter. Damn reality. Thank you for liking and reviewing my story! 

Black Angel of Destruction:   
Quite a name you've got there. Thank you for liking this fic- how'd you like the update? I've been really flatterd by my reviewers- but my ego is loving it. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! 

Saiph:   
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love getting positive reviews... And the Gundam conversation was one of the funnest things to write in here so far. I'm going into a more serious side, soon... hope you like it. And hurray for all us geeky sugar junkies! I refuse to give up on my Halloweens until I'm going around in a walker. Take that, oppresive adult overlords! I don't know what I'd do without my candy... 

Death Phoenix:   
This soon enough for ya? I hope you liked it, even if it is a little short. You know, when I started this, I never thought it would be this popular... 

silverkitcat:   
Kurama won't show up for a long, long time, and the others find out about Duo only after that. Sorry... but I said in the notes after the first chapter that it would be an eternity before the YYH people come in, so it isn't really THAT unexpected... Thank you many times for the complements! 

Kyra2:   
Banned as in I can't do anything fun on the computer... work, sure, but no fun. All cause they don't like the fact I failed one lousy pop quiz. The one article I didn't read, and the teacher had to go and give a quiz on it... Well, as you can see, I have a bit of wiggle room, so I'll live. It's going to be a bit of a combination of the two, actually- probably next chapter! 


	10. Problems

Hello, everyone, and welcome to chapter 10. Before starting, I want to thank all the lovely reviewers, becuase as of this posting, Kitsune Twins has 100 reviews. That's more then 10 reviews per chapter, hoo-yeah! Many thanks to everyone who has read this and reviewed it, and who is reading this now. Oh, and a major announcement! Pirates and Gboys of the Caribbean now has a REAL ninth chapter, not just a note and a rant about Bush! And on with the fic!

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Heero and Duo had reached the area of the ductwork that was directly over the place they stored their samples of the new metal- but they had run into a problem. The only vent in the room was directly over the sealed cabinet where the samples were being stored- and it was only in the movies where a vent in that position was ideal.

In reality, it was possible the worst spot for it. Having a vent directly over the target meant that you couldn't see anything of what was in the rest of the room. It could be completely empty, or holding a squadron of heavily armed ninja. As long as anyone in the room didn't walk right under the vent, there was no way to tell.

And trying to stick your head out of a vent so positioned would have been a very, very stupid thing to do. If anyone else was in the room, then it was practically guaranteed that movement directly above the 'target' would attract their attention. Attention, in such a hostile territory as this, usually meant flying bullets and other such warm welcomes.

Duo couldn't even ask the metal of the room's what the weight distribution was to get an idea of who might be in there; the floor was thick, and so reinforced that it wouldn't have felt the weight of an elephant.

Then, from the room below, came voices.

He and Heero froze in the vents, feeling the seconds fly past like small buzzing insects.

Insects that held a fatal poison.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Two minutes since he had engaged OZ's suits; Trowa would take at least three more to get here given-

Quatre spun Sandrock away from a laser blast, using the momentum of the spin to slice through two more suits with his sabers-

-optimal weather conditions for flying Heavyarms. And-

- then ducked to more shots, fired back on the upshot of the recoil and moved to-

-optimal weather conditions very seldom occurred at any bit of Earth they happened to be-

-plow through a weak shot; the damage was minimal and his position now let him take out three suits at once-

-fighting at any given time. Those these conditions-

-and then raced forward and cut through four fuel tanks as he went, using Sandrock's speed to get far enough to avoid damage from the ensuing explosions.

-were very close.

Quatre looked at Sandrock's timer. Two minutes until Trowa's arrival.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

The voices in the room were quite... informative. Above them, in the ceiling, the pilots took in every word, learning far more than they cared to about their current situation.

"Do you think they'll come, Joe?"

"They should; HQ says they've been goin' after info and science shit lately. With the little fuckers hittin' so close to a lab like this, they got could."

"Huh. I'd love to see them try; there's got to be three squads throughout this place, meant to get in the way of anything escaping. No way they'll get in, past all of us, and out again without being spotted. And if we see them, we can shoot them."

"Not with your aim; you couldn't hit a MS at ten paces."

Duo and Heero stopped listening as the conversation deteriorated into mutual insults. They now had a problem. On top of being more than five minutes behind schedule (which meant that the distraction provided by Quatre and Trowa was that much closer to ending), several more obstacles had just been thrust in their way.

Three squadrons of obstacles, to be precise.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Trowa pushed Heavyarms to its limits, pouring all the power he could into the engines. The suit complained, in loud groans and other noises, but it went faster.

He would be at Quatre's battleground in slightly less then two minutes. The conditions for Heavyarms's flight were better then usual, and with the power boost he was pouring into the engines, he would get there in near perfect time.

He checked the scans on the number of OZ suits. Near perfect wasn't good enough. He pushed the engines once more.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

A/N: How'd you like it? Things are heating up for the G-boys... and I'm off with the damn cliff-hangers again. Evil me... Seriously, though, I don't TRY to do this; is just happans. I'm sorry to all of you who are screaming and tearing your hair out due to either the cliffies or the pace- but they're gonna stay the same. Bwahaha. And now, notes to all my lovely reviewers, who gave he 100 reviews as a gift for the tenth chapter. I'm going to be very hyper about that for the forseeable future, just to warn you.

KentouKurige:

Regularity is over-rated, trust me. It means that when you miss a day, people start screaming at you. But on the upshot, it means you can bribe your reviewers with REALLY fast updates, so it all evens out, I guess... Sorry for the new cliff-hanger, but I'm glad you like the fic!

ZmahGoddess:

Longer chappies are for other fics- this one's short. I'm really flattered that you like my writing enough to protest, though. Hope it doesn't shove you TOO far from the edge of sanity, and hope that you liked this chapter!

cheerful-pinkstar:

I'm glad you don't mind the short chapters- and I hope you like the update! I'm finally in plot action, now, so life's getting very intresting, indeed.

lolly sister:

The five minutes by themselves wouldn't have been that big of an issue, but problems are just piling up, and up, and up... when you combine the off timing with the increased security and the greater amounts of MS, THEN you have a catastrophe. In the next update, the boys will start to compensate for them. Hope you liked this chapter!

Windy River:

Soon as always, don't worry. I try never to leave a fic hanging for TOO long.

Saiph:

Many thanks for the philisophical view on cliff-hangers! And with me, fairly regualr answers to them can be expected, so I don't think mine are THAT bad... Anyway, I'm really glad you like the story line. Kurama and the others WILL show up eventually, I swear, so don't worry. See ya next week!

M-python-girl:

No worries, I know that you're reading it. I'm glad you like it enough to continue! Oh- and here's something that you might like: My AP English class spent the day before vacation watching Monty Python skits (including the Dead Parrot). They were hysterical- and nearly as funny as them was watching the teacher go nuts trying to figure out how to work the DVD player. Hope you liked this chapter!

CuriousDreamWeaver:

:glom:Congradulations on being the 100th reviewer! Yuuske and the gang will show up eventually, never fear. I love 'em too much to leave them out. Glad you like the story!

Well, fans, that's all until next week. Until then, Happy Thanksgiving! (to those of you who live in America. To those of you who don't, Happy Whatever-Holiday-Is-Closest-That-You-Celebrate) And to all a good night. (Don't mind me, I'm still hyper.) See ya later!


	11. Developments

Hi, everybody! This is my Official Update Week! ::trumpets blare::. In English, I'm updating every single fic that I have up in ff.n. So if you read more then one of my fics, you're in luck! And like I said last week, Pirates and Gboys of the Caribbean is back on track! I put up a real chapter 9 last week, and this week there's going to be a chaper 10. But, as this is another fic entirely, I'll let you read. Enjoy!

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Heero ran the mission objective through his mind during the swift moments that followed their hearing the solder's conversation. They needed the metal; they needed to get out; they needed to get back to the Gundams. Only way to accomplish all of that was a distraction- and the only thing that would distract the squadrons waiting for them was a target. The only target they'd accept was a Gundam Pilot.

Duo could probably do it- he was fast, faster than Heero was, and good at drawing attention then getting away-

_NO!_ Heero didn't even question the scream of- something- from inside of him that told him that it was _not_ acceptable for Duo to take this particular mission. It made sense; Duo was the thief, he could get to the metal faster, and their enemy had had more contact with Pilot 01, and was more likely to recognize him then Duo. And it _wasn't_ acceptable for OZ to gain any more familiarity with the Gundam pilot's appearances then they already had.

"Duo- grab the objective after I've led them off. Meet at the rendezvous point." He didn't pause to let Duo voice any objections- in two swift movements he had lifted the vent cover and dove through it, hitting the ground and beginning to run before the shouts of surprise had even begun. His superior speed, strength, and agility would make it possible for him to get through this. Hopefully.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Quatre was tiring. Not physically- his body was too full of adrenaline to tire; and not mechanically- Sandrock had yet to take serious damage. But mentally, the chaos of feelings and energy that was writhing through the battle was taking a tremendous toll. He could feel the deaths, the fear, the determination, the shock, the sorrow, the rage, the anger, and every other emotion that goaded or filled every person on the battlefield. In point of fact he could feel everything- but himself. It felt like he was being tossed through a whirling maelstrom, with no anchor and nothing to separate him from the winds that battered him.

Sandrock staggered slightly as a missile managed to connect with one of its arms and threw off its balance.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Duo barely managed to stop himself from throwing his body after Heero's. _What type of fucking idiot threw himself into three squadrons of enemy?!_ But he knew what was a stake here, as much as Heero did, and he _would_ complete the mission. He _would_ get the metal and make sure that it got safely to the Gundams.

But there was no way fucking way he was going to wait helplessly there to see if the fates felt like sparing someone he cared for. Not while he still had breath in his body.

But there wouldn't be enough time for him to make it to the Gundams and back. So- he needed to cheat.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Trowa was near enough the battle now that he saw Sandrock take the hit in the arm, and saw the suit stagger. He also saw the OZ Leos close in on that moment of weakness, and saw that he wouldn't be near enough to stop the first wave of attacks on that weakness. All he could do was hope that Sandrock would handle the attack, and that Quatre would be able to fight with him when he arrived to help against the suits.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Halfway around the world, Wufei was just returning from his own mission. It had been a fairly standard one, if you could call life-threatening missions standard- fly in fast, cause as much damage as possible to the intended target, take out the Suits and Dolls that came at him, then disappear to another safe house. He and Nataku handled it easily; the Dolls were no match for a true Pilot, and the pilots in the Suits had had too much bravado to attack as a true team, and not enough courage to truly try and fight him.

As he carefully climbed out of the suit, checking Nataku visually for damage, a strange sense of unease slipped up from somewhere in his mind. Not from immediate danger, he knew that- it was as safe here as it was anywhere else for him. So what was causing this feeling? Where was it coming from?

The Chinese pilot made one last check of Nataku before heading to the safe house, still trying to identify the source of the indefinable feeling of danger.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

A/N: Well, you probably all want to kill be now. Yep, I bet you do. But you can't, not if you want the fic to continue! Bwahahaha! ::ahem:: Right, sorry about the ego trip... blame Catclaws and Catslaugh, they're the really evil muses. I noticed while writing this chapter that I had been ignoring Wufei for the longest time, so I decided to give him some screen time. And it helped with the foreshadowing. Notes to my lovely reviewers!

Windy River:  
I got two messages from you. You want double updates, I take it? Seriously, what happened was that screw up over Thanksgiving vacation, and during that time, any given reviews (at least on MY files) went to the end of the list instead of the top, so that some of my early reviewer's messages are hidden at the end. Since you were the first reviewer of this chapter, you're one of that group. I'm flatterd that you checked and resent the message, though. Hope you liked the chapter!

M-python-girl:  
I think you should lobby your teacher to get her to show Monty Python. I bet your class will love it. And Kurama and Hiei won't show up for a while yet. I want the boys to finish their mission, and then start another one. The second one is going to go wrong, and the Spirit detectives will be called in at that point. But it will take a while. Though don't be suprised if I use some twisted version of your idea... The least little thing can inspire my muses.

Saiph Taeveryn:  
Cool! I made my account earlier in the year, about when my school started. Lovin' it so far! Thank you for the compliments. It's really great to know that I have such an affect on people, even if I never meet them face to face. Sorry about your week, and I sincerely hope that this one was better. If not, I then hope that the chapter cheered you up. If even THAT failed, try some other fics- I like to think that some of mine are funny, and I know that several on my fav list are hysterical! Many thanks for the reviews, by the way.

Silvermane1:  
I don't quite get the review, but I'll take it as a complement that you took the time to do so. Did you type many 'o's? Cause stupid ff.n has started to automaticly delete and correct that down to one letter. Every time you type more then two characters in a row, it buts in. Damn nosy software... NEway, I hope you like both the fic and the update!

And cut! Over for another week! I'll see y'all in another fic, and if not, then it'll be next week. Ciao!


	12. Cheating

Welcome to chapter 12, oh fans of mine... and I hope that I haven't yet killed you with the sheer amount of cliff-hangers I'm doing. I'm sorry about it, alright everybody? It's just how my muses demand things happen, and I can't say no to them because they torture me if I do.

And to everyone who moans in agony over the chapter length, I have one thing to say: go read 'Nindo' by Aiddon Raziel Valentine. It's in the Naruto fanfiction, rated R (also on my fav list). If you don't like Naruto, or don't want to read it (the thing is over 100 chapters, now) just check out the length of the chapters. THEN come bitching to me about my chapter length. And almost every one of THEM ends in a cliff-hanger, too. Though, this time, I've been nice and written a longer then usual chapter.

Right- ranting over with, enjoy the story. I will hence-forth be ignoring all complaints of chapter length- you've been warned.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Duo used every bit of his speed to reach the small cabinet with the metal in it, disregarding all the previous limits he'd put on himself. There wasn't anyone here to see him, and even if there had been all they would have seen would have been a blur. He wasn't going to let anything get in the way of his getting to Heero as fast as possible.

Completely ignoring his lock picks, Duo slammed both his hands flat on the cabinet- the _metal_ cabinet- and sent his ki streaming in it, taking control of it.

The cabinet sprung open with no protest, and no alarms.

Still moving at top speed, Duo reached in and grabbed the small nuggets of the new alloy that were stored there. Once he had them, he raced back into the vents. It really wouldn't do to have an Ozzie interrupt what he was about to do.

Settling himself as comfortably as possible into the vents, Duo began to concentrate. He wrapped his ki around and through the small bits in front of him, making a net of his energy that cradled them. Still holding that net, he reached for his connection to Deathscythe. This was harder then it sounded- trying to find one specific bit of metal when humanity depended on the stuff in nearly every position was like sorting through six different hay stacks _of_ needles for one specific needle. The only reason he could do it was the amount of time he spent in and around Deathscythe, and the amount of ki that the Gundam had absorbed from him. It was the equivalent of painting the needle you looking for Neon Red and wrapping it in flashing lights.

Once he had the connection built up as strong as he could make it, Duo began the hardest part of the spell. He took the flakes of alloy, cradled in a net of his ki, and began to channel them onto the connection that he had made to his Gundam. In effect, he was pretending to be a computer- the alloy was the email, he was the sending computer, and Deathscythe was the receiving computer, and the connection between them was the Internet. It took a very large amount of power to pull this off, but he had practice. He and Kurama had used this trick before to transfer stolen goods. He'd done it more often the Kurama had, as they hadn't stolen a lot of plants, but Kurama had been the one to come up with the spell.

Duo felt his focus waver as thoughts of his lost twin intruded, and he firmly thrust everything out of his mind but the channel he was holding and what was traveling down it. It seemed to take an eternity, waiting for the small net of energy to travel the entire way. Duo firmly held the connection, and refused to think about what might be happening to the others. He couldn't afford that distraction, not here, not now.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Quatre managed to pull his mind far enough away from the storm of emotions in time to see the trouble he was in- he knew that his Gundam was in a badly balanced position, and that a large number of suits had taken advantage of it. He couldn't get his shields up in time. Quickly, he began to windmill this sabers in front of him, trying to deflect as much of the incoming missiles and ammunition as possible. He knew that he wouldn't be able to stop everything, but hopefully this would cut down on the damages.

He managed to deflect about half of the approaching projectiles, which was a greater number than he'd expected, but the half that hit him hit hard. Sandrock staggered slightly, and went down on one knee, as a particularly well aimed shot ripped through the knee joint. It was still functional, but it would be working at less then half the speed it had before the battle, seriously hurting his agility.

Before any of the Leos could take advantage of this, however, Trowa hit them.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Heero raced through the base, chased by gunfire and shouts. Every time he found a spot with cover, he took the opportunity to turn and take out as many of the soldiers following him as he could. That really wasn't a great amount, percentage wise, but it kept the remaining ones cautious and it gave him breathing time. He needed to find a way out, and fast- the alarm had already gone through the base, and they would be ready for him

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Trowa cannoned into the unprepared Mobile Suits, taking out five of them before they had a chance to react. He had come in from behind, on the opposite side of Quatre, and used his momentum to punch through the ranks surround the small blonde's Gundam. As he did so, he twisted Heavyarms into a complex flipping movement- not the full triple flip, but a smaller and more complicated one that merely changed his direction. At the end of it, he was firmly planted between the kneeling Gundam Quatre was in and the remaining Leos.

Trowa didn't wait for the enemy pilots to react- he immediately started to rip into them, his missiles and shells finding targets with devastating accuracy.

His style was very different then Quatre's- instead of the slashes and thrusts that Sandrock's sabers were capable of, he used high explosive ammunition, standing in one spot and firing repeatedly at his targets. He was massively greatful for that now. His fighting style let him tear into the Leos from a distance, while remaining in front of Quatre and protecting him.

As the Leos fell back and began to regroup, getting over their panic at the appearance of a second Gundam, a radio channel crackled to life between Sandrock and Heavyarms. "T- 03!" Quatre gasped out, catching himself. They never spoke their names over a radio channel when they were in battle, or at any other time when OZ would be able to connect their names to their Gundams or faces if they were able to intercept the transmission. "You got here just in time."

"That was the point, 04," was the soft reply. The words weren't much but Quatre could hear all the feelings in them, and sense all the emotions emanating from the other pilot, and that was all he needed to know. He pulled his mind out of the warm flow of emotions that Trowa was sending his way and quickly began to list his condition.

"Sandrock's shields are 70 percent functional, weapons 92 percent, but mobility less then 50 percent due to the hit I took just as you arrived. How much longer do we need to hold them off?"

"Five minutes at the most. That's the time-frame that 01 and 02 need, according to the mission."

"Right," Quatre gasped. He quickly began re-routing power around the damaged joint. That should bring he mobility up, and they should be able to hold out from there.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

A/N: Well folks, that's it. I was in a really, really bad mood up at the top- could you tell? I'm really flattered that you like my story enough to attack me for not writing more (well- semi-flatterd- possible maimings take the glamor out of it) but since I update regularly, I wouldn't think that this would be a major deal. You know that in a week, a new chapter will be up, unless something major happens in reality to cut me away from the computer. To people who don't mind the chapter length- Bless you. Or Thank You, depending on whether or not Bless you offends your in some manner that I am not aware of.

Right- and on to reviewer notes!

M-python-girl:  
I know the feeling. Did it manage to escape anyone that I'm in a bad mood? If so, it musta been someone with a rock for a skull. Interestingly enough, I want to write more, then. It's just what I write tends to be highly angsty or... uh... antagonistic would be the polite way of putting it. And fearing your world and wrath would take most of the fun out of life- I laugh at all worlds as a general principle. Hope you liked the chapter, though.

chibi luci:  
Don't kill me please. I like life, really. It's just how the chapters for this fic are working out. And no torture, either- I hate lemons. A note: it's not Duo's power that Wuffles is sensing, it's something else. Yes, Quatre knows something's odd about Duo, but he doesn't know what- he doesn't know enough about his power to determine it- if he didn't know enough to stop himself from being swept away by all those feelings, then he doesn't know enough to analyze one specific feeling. Someone MIGHT find out, but not now. The YYH people will have a short appearence in a bit, but they won't interact with the characters for a while yet. I'm sorry about my cliff-hangers, really I am... they just show up when I write, I can't help it!

Death Phoenix:  
Once a week, as I alway do unless there's a natural disaster or something where I live. Don't worry, I try to be good about my updates!

cheerful-pinkstar:  
It's all right- you reviewed for this chapter, and that's good. I hope that you get your computer fixed soon!

Windy River:  
I do, I do! I hope that this chapter resolved some of the cliffie issues, though- and it was longer then usual.

ChimeraDragon:  
Very mean. I'm downright evil. But I hoped that this chapter helped to clear some of that up. And no, Wufei isn't Duo's twin- Kurama is Kurama. Interesting thought, though.

Kyra2:  
The metal itself isn't important- it's something the Docters think they need, and think that OZ could put to bad uses. Did this chapter clear up what Duo meant by cheating? Sad to say the Wufei won't be really 'involved' until the next mission, though.

crazy-lil-nae-nae:  
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love encouraging reviews...

Saiph Taeveryn:  
Thank you! I hope that you like the end to all those little cliffies that I seem to insist on hanging around... I never INTEND to write them, they just happen. Anyway, I hope that you'll like the next few chapters!

Silvermane1:  
What did I say about people compaining about short chapters? While I'm glad that you like my story enough to be frustrated that there isn't more of it, but really, I DO intend to finish it! Many thanks for the review, though, I appreciate it- and I'm sorry if I used you as a vent for all my annoyance. I've got a bad habit of doing that...

ZmajGoddess:  
Thank you. I promise to keep updateing this steadily. I'm liking the story too much to abandon it, don't worry! I hope that the answers to several of the little cliffies that I've scatterd around are pleasing...

inthefire2002:  
And more going on in this chapter! Yes, it was very brave of Heero- but I get the feeling that he doesn't think of it as brave. It's simply something he _does_, something he has to do. Wufei wasn't really reacting to Duo, but that's a close guess. Did you like Trowa's 'rescue'? Thank you for the review!

Fire Pheonix1:  
The YYH gang will have a little tiny appearence soon, and come in for real eventually. I love them too much to leave them out. Well, love Kurama and Hiei- Yusuke I tolerate with some affection, and Kuwabara I merely tolerate. But MAN does that idiot need a new haircut! I hope that you liked the chapter- and thank you for taking the time to reveiw!


	13. Fighting

Hey, everyone, and welcome to chapter 13. I'd like to apologise for being such a bitch about the chapter length last week- it was a... can we say stressful? Let's say stressful... week. A lot of stuff was happening, and I think you caught the backlash. Oh, this chapter might be a little sub-standard-- the computer had an absolutely spectacular melt-down this week, so I wrote most of this chapter directly before uploading it. Hope you like it!

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Heero had stopped thinking the moment that he had hit the floor and taken off running; conscious thought wasn't something that he had time for. His entire body was functioning on something close to autopilot. His senses fed the information into him, and he reacted; there was no pause for interpretation or understanding. It was this state of mind that J had inflicted on him with the endless training.

And it was this state of mind that was keeping him alive- for now.

Rush of air; turn and fire without aiming, knowing that the shot had hit anyway because the scream ripped through the air; running, dodging before your even realized something was there; racing through corridor after corridor without any way out of it and not knowing how to find anyway out of it-

It was just as well Heero wasn't thinking- had he been, he would have been thinking about Duo, and that would have just left him filled with something like… worry.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Duo lay, panting, in the ductwork. He'd forgotten how much that particular spell took out of him. But the small nuggets that were the point of the mission were now safely in Deathscythe, in the fastest time possible.

Ignoring the way his body groaned in protest, telling him that he'd used too much energy, Duo pushed himself up and started moving along the ductwork again. All he needed to do was head for the largest assortment of gunmetal, and he'd be able to find where Heero was.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

The standard OZ Leos facing Trowa and Quatre had managed to reform. They came at the pair in a classic pincer movement, clearly hoping to catch their enemy's sides open and off-guard. Before they could complete the movement, however, Trowa began to quickly use his various missiles and guns on the right half of the 'jaws'. Instead of the indiscriminate blasting he had used earlier, while firing into the crowd, the aimed at specific targets, ripped holes through the approaching lines. As the suits there struggled to regroup, he whipped around and used the same technique on the left side of the attack.

Quatre, once Trowa had begun to move to the left, used all the speed left in his Gundam to bring himself to the right. He reached the enemy line a few seconds after Trowa had started to fire at the other half. Quickly and efficiently, he used Sandrock's Heat Shotel sabers to eliminate the suits that Trowa's shots had damaged without finishing. This left even larger gaps in the original formation, allowing Quatre to weave and dart around the remaining suits despite his decreased mobility. He wasn't quite as over-whelmed by the currents of emotion, now; Trowa's presence provided the grounding that he hadn't had before. But the extremes of emotion that he could sense still pulled at him, still sought to draw him in.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Duo was able to follow Heero's path fairly easily- he had been herded through the corridors by the attacking troops, but he left a trail. The bodies that littered made up that trail left a clear statement as to how they had paid for that herding, but apparently the higher-ups at this base thought it was worth the loss to manage to capture or kill a Gundam Pilot.

Heero was now cornered in one of the other labs that the building held. He had sealed the doors behind him through the simple method of shoving the largest item possible against the doors, thus rendering them inoperable, as the item against them was a steel cabinet that looked like it would take several men to move it more then an inch. How Heero had managed that, Duo didn't want to know.

As he read this information through the ki probes that he'd extended through the building, he also noticed something else: the troops who were trying to open the door had called for some big guns. They included hand-held rocket launchers, some miniature beam weapons, and other assorted nasties. '_Oh_ no," Duo thought grimly. 'We can't have _that_.' He quickly moved along the ductwork to intercept the small group who were hauling the weapons towards Heero's retreat.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

A/N: And that's the latest chapter, folks. Again, I'm sorry that I went and yelled at you last week. Hope you liked the chapter, and here's the notes!

Akua:  
Thank you! I hope that you like this one, too. Many thanks for your compliments about my writing, I really appreciate it. Here's the update... and I think I jsut left another cliff-hanger in here. :sigh: Oh, well- it'll be answered next week, anyway... Unless, of course, the little imp-demons that live in the computer decide that they hate me again. Thanks for reviewing!

cheerful-pinkstar:  
My own computer almost had me skipping an update this week... evil imps demons live in the thing, I tell you! :hiss: Thank you for the review, and I hope you like this chapter!

Windy River:  
Once a week- and here's the chapter! My routine is regualr, unless interupped my reality or the evil imp-demons that infest my compter and live to make my life miserable.

chibi-luci:  
It's all right, I don't mind it all that much- I was just in a really bad mood, and the wails about chapter length were a hand target right when I really needed a vent. I really can't complain without being hypocritical- I can get really... er... threatening when a fic I love is left hanging. I hope that you liked this chapter- and thanks for reviewing even if you don't say much. I appreciate the time and effort spent, as well as the thought.

ZmajGoddess:  
I thought that it was an interesting extention for his powers... they're connected to metal, and he's pretty powerful, so as long as it involes metal and he's got enough energy, he can pretty much do what he wants with it... but he's got limits, which I'm going to go into several chapters in the future! Sorry I stuck another cliffie in here, but they just keep cropping up... Thank you for the review!

The Anonymous Smiley Face:  
Hmmm... I remeber some review that had only a smile face in the name-box, so I called the person 'Anonymous Smiley Face'... but I don't know if that was you or not... oh, well. Thanks for taking the time to review now, even if you didn't earlier. And didn't you read the rant about chapter length last chapter? The short length is going to stay, because that's how the story is structured. Sorry, but that's truth. They also mean that I can update while I'm supposed to kicked off the computer, becuase I can sneak the typing in on the side. Neway, thank you for the reivew!

Saiph Taeveryn:  
Thank you! Kurama is a cool stratejist... I don't think I spelled that right, so we're even! Anyway, I thought that it was something that seemed more his style then Duo's. I don't know how mangled this is, but my vision of Duo says that he'd flaunt what he'd stolen and taunt whoever he'd stolen it from. Kurama is more... sublte? Calm? I dunno, but it seemed more him.

J-chan8:  
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your words on chapter length. It was really helpful (and calming) for me. And thanks for reading my other stuff, too. My own fav is Pilot 06 Mirage, but not everybody likes sixth pilot fics, so I don't get as many people on it as on the others. My muses are currently purring from your complements. I introduce then in the third chapter of my fusion with PotC, if you want to meet them. Many, many thanks for reviewing, and I hoped you liked this chapter!

crazy-lil-nae-nae:  
Yep, Duo will be starting to use his powers more as time goes on. Though he's going to be desperatly trying to hide it from the others as well... Bwahaha. Evil writer that I am, I'm going to enjoy writing all the tension that's whirling through the air! Thank you for the review, and I hope you liked this chapter!

Fire Pheonix1:  
Thanks for the review! Were you refering to your review or to the chapter as predictable? If it was the chapter, sorry, but it just seemed right; and if it was the review, even the most hackneyed compliments sound good when you talk about someone elses writing, so it wasn't as cliched as it might be. And I put up with Kuwabara the same way I do with everything else in life that annoys me: by imagining how much worse it COULD be. Take Kuwabara: imagine him with the most annoying accent you can think of. Personally, thick twang drives me up the wall. Now think of what would it be like if he were the main character. See how bad that is? And it can get worse; it can always get worse. Oops, I started to wander... Back on topic: Thank you for the review!

Mystical-Maiden:  
I don't think you did; that was just a general ranting session, of whom my readers were the unfortunate targets. And the updates were almost late this week! My computer is home to evil imp-demons, I tell you. I hope that you liked this chapter, and many, many thanks for reviewing!

M-python-girl:  
Lauging is always fun. Not only does it relax you, it gets everyone else annoyed at you. :giggle: Fun. Have you ever read the Animorphs? Here's a quote: "Everything's funny if you step back far enough." It's true, I've found... and so appiciable to all situations! Thank you for reviewing, and I really hope that you liked the chapter!

Silvermane1:  
No problem, though the evil imp-demons that live in my computer almost made it into a problem. I'm really sorry if I ripped into you last chapter- I needed to vent, and you were kinda in the wrong place at the wrong time. Neway, I hope that you like the new chapter!

too.lazy.to.sign.in:  
I'm sorry, the YYH people stay away for a while... but they WILL be here, I promise! It'll just take some time, is all... Oh, do you mean OC as in Original Character, or OOC as in Out Of Character? Doesn't really matter in your context, but I was wondering. And Heero will be here next chapter; he's too much fun to leave out, so don't you worry. And I'll always be glad to give more chapters. Thank you for reviewing!

inthefire2002:Thank you very much! I actually don't have much experience with action scenes, and I was kinda worried about them. Thank you for reasuring me about them. The pair in the base will definatly need more then five minutes... oh dear, more problems for the Pilots... Glad you liked Duo's metal-sending spell; I had fun coming up with it. He said he needed to cheat- and in a world of technology, how much more thoughrouly can you cheat then by using magic? And yep, he's helping Heero now. :cackle: He's going to be cheating much more... :more cackles:

Well, people, that's all for another week. :phew: Hope you all enjoyed it, and I'll see yas next week!


	14. Retaliation

Hey, everybody... in case you didn't hear, I got kicked off the computer again... so I'm sneeking this chapter on. I hope you like it!

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Trowa knew that he and Quatre wouldn't be able to hold out much longer- they had managed to last the five minutes that the plan needed, and five more besides- but they needed to retreat quickly. Sandrock's lack of mobility was beginning to tell in the hits it was taking, and Heavyarm's ammunition was getting low. Further, OZ was bound to be sending more troops out to this battlefield, increasing the odds against them.

"04!" he called over the com. "How quickly can we disengage?" Quatre's mind was the best at strategy- and in a few seconds, he had his answer.

"When the lines shift so that their backs are too the forest you came from- we'll go over them, the turn they'll have to make will delay them enough to let us get out of their range!"

"Understood." Neither of them bothered talking after that- they focused on the attacks and moves that would shift the remaining Leos in the direction that they needed.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Duo hid in the ducts above Heero's chosen stronghold, waiting for the backup with increased weaponry to reach a certain four-way corner in another part of the building on the way to their destination. For someone with his ability to read metal, telling that the junction was under very high stress was easy. And, as any Engineering Major will tell you, highly stressed areas are vulnerable...

Duo still didn't have much energy or ki back, yet- so, little things only. But he had several ideas on how to deal with that.

Duo's eyes narrowed as the metal told him that the first of the troops had hit the spot. When the weight distribution told him that most of the force was in or close to the corner, he made his move. He sent out an irresistible call- a call for the pins on the high-explosive grenades that were part of the detail's cargo.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

The soldiers had precious few seconds to realize what had happened and react to it. A few dove for cover- a few screamed- but most didn't even realize they were in danger before the combined forces of the grenades ripped apart. The force of the explosion detonated a good bit of the rest of the weaponry, and rendered the rest into unusable slag. None of it was now usable- and no one was going to be getting past that corridor any time soon.

And the collapse of the beams that were holding so much weight affected the building even further then the explosion itself- without the support, the area all around that corner collapsed onto itself, helped by the further explosions of the weapons. By the time the chain reactions had finished, the long rectangle of a building was nearly cut in half by the destruction.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

A grim smile flitted over Duo's lips.

The explosion also had one other affect that he hadn't counted on. Many of the soldiers in the fort ran to the spot, either in an attempt to see what was wrong, or to defend from another supposed attack. This left few soldiers that Duo himself would have to deal with personally, which was all to the good- his reserves were not in the best of shape.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

In the room he had barricaded, Heero jerked from the semi-conscious haze that the injuries and effort had shoved him in to. The explosion's echoes and the rumbles of the collapsing building was enough to tell him that something was going badly in the base- but for who? And what had happened? Was Duo here? No- it couldn't be, he'd taken the nuggets to the Gundams, he couldn't be back yet. So who? Heero gave up on the questions, and on consciousness- at least two of the bullets had hit him solidly, and he had dozens of grazes from near misses. Even he could only take so much.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

The battle lines had moved- and Quatre and Trowa had a free shot away.

"Ready, 03?" Quatre gasped out as the activated Sandrock's engines.

"Yes." Trowa responded as he initiated the same preparations to his on Gundam.

"NOW!"

Without a pause, the engines of Gundams 03 and 04 thrust them into the sky and over the heads of the 10 or so remaining Leos. Before the OZ suits could turn and get a shot off at their retreating forms, they were gone.

Now, without the battle to focus on, Quatre could let other thoughts trickle through his head. The first was relief that he and Trowa had survived another day. The second was worry for Heero and Duo. What if something had gone wrong on their half of the mission?

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Akua:  
Yep, it was... I hope that this is less of one, though. I've tried to stop, really I have... but my evil and sadistic muses won't let me! They've got me hooked, I tell you! Hope you didn't get too impatient waiting for this- and I hope you had a Merry Christmas! My secret for beating writer's block is to eat enough sugar to give my entire family diabetes, and then begin imagining the characters in different situations. It usually gives me something... Neway, thank you for the review, and I hope you get over your own block soon!

Mystical-Maiden:  
It's possible... quite possible. Thank you for the review, and I hope that you haven't had too much problems with your monkey demons thus far. Damn imps...

cheerful-pinkstar:  
Long time, I tell you... long time. UU :looks wise: seriously, it takes a very long time. Sorry... but I swear they'll be in here eventually. Thanks for the review!

Windy River:  
Well, I failed abismally at that... and at spelling, while I'm at it. Sorry, but it's just hard to update when the computer's in the center of the house, and you're not supposed to be on it. Hope you liked the chapter, though!

M-python-girl:  
Yeah, that's about when I fell in love with them too... It's from Marco, if I remember correctly- his mother had taiught it too him, and he spent a good bit of time agnsting over it. I laugh at the gossips, too- more fun then actually listening too them. Yep, they really are dumb... Neway, thank you for the review, and I hope you liked the chapter!

The Anonymous Smiley Face:  
Cool. I'm glad to have donated a name, and thank you for reviewing! It's alright about missing my rant- it was more about my blowing steam then anything else. Hope you liked the chapter, and thanks again for reviewing.

Saiph Taeveryn:  
Tell me about it. I hate those things, and there's nothing you can do to get rid of them except beg and barter your soul to 'em. Neway, I hope you liked the chapter, and thanks for reviewing!

Silvermane1:  
I know, and I'm sorry- I'm not usually that much of a bitch. Neway, thank you for reviewing, and I hope you liked the chapter!

ZmajGoddess:  
Yes, I love doing it. I'm evil and sadistic and live to torture my readers. Seriously, though, I don't really mean to make the cliffies that bad, they just crop up. Thank you for your compliemnt and for the review! Did you like Duo's trick? He _is_ a demolitions expert, after all... I got the idea from Magneto in the second X-men movie. Hope you liked the chapter!

crazy-lil-nae-nae:  
I was born this evil. I used to sleep all day and stay up all night, just to annoy my parents. :snicker: And it's only gotten worse from there. Thank you for the compliments and the review! And I'm sorry, but it will be a long time before the YYH gang shows up. But they WILL be here, I swear. Hope you liked the chapter!

Lady-Frisselle: Thank you! Kurama and Hiei will be a long time in coming, but they will be here. Thank you for the compliments and the review. Fei-chan will figure it out- but I'm not quite sure when. Hope you liked the chapter! 

inthefire2002:  
Thank you! I was trying to get across a feeling of chaos and urgency... I'm really glad you liked it! And the Ozzies certianly don't know what hit them- but then, not even the other Gundam Pilots know exactly that... Neway, thank you for the review, and I hope you liked this chapter!

chibi luci:  
I apreciate all reviews as a rule- and this story is deliberatly engineered with short chapters, so don't get your hopes up. Thank you for the review- and the next thing that I intend to update is Gundam 06 Mirage (with new title change- it used to be Pilot 06 Mirage), so I hope you'll like that when I get it up, too. See ya!

Well, gang, that's all for now! I'll see yas later!


	15. Retreat

Hello, everyone- to people who read Pirate and Gboys of the Caribbean, I'm working on the next chapter, and it's GOING to be out next week! I swear! I've left it hanging long enough. And in the meantime, here's the fifteenth chapter of Kitsune Twins!

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Duo used the general confusion and noise among the soldiers to mask the noise he made getting into the room Heero had barricaded. It took a good deal of the ki he had left to open the metal ceiling of the room, he didn't want to waste any more of it keeping the metal quiet. Once he was in the room, a quick scan showed him where Heero had collapsed.

Duo's heart nearly stopped in his chest. He could see at least two bullet wounds, and the rest of his fellow Pilot was covered in scratches and grazes. There was no telling how much bruising here would be in a day or so. Without pausing to think, Duo raced over to the other boy and repeated the trick he'd used on the grenades. Only this time, he called the bullets.

Once the damaging pieces of metal were out of Heero's body, Duo paused to steady himself on the floor, and to draw as much energy as he could from the metal around him. Even humans had figured out that metal stored and transmitted energy- they used it for electricity and other power. But that wasn't the only power the metal was connected to, and Duo used that to his complete advantage, now. He was going to need every drop of power he could muster for his next task.

Manipulating the iron in blood cells wasn't a _bulky_ task, but it needed a lot of fine control, and that control drained more ki then many larger acts. But it was the only way that Duo would be able to stop the bleeding in time to get them out of the base with even the slightest possibility of saving Heero, and letting the brown-haired Pilot die was not something that Duo was even going to contemplate. He'd lost too many friends and loved ones, in both of his lifetimes, to be willing to abandon another one now.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Quatre and Trowa reached the latest safe house without any incident, and found that Wufei was already there. But Heero and Duo were still missing.

"What happened?" Quatre demanded, his nerves on edge as he paced restlessly across the floor. The other pair had been scheduled to return ahead of them. Either they had met with OZ troops on the way back and had to alter course to avoid being followed, or they had encountered trouble at the base itself. Neither idea was especially encouraging.

As he paced past the couch where Trowa was sitting with his legs crossed, a hand reached out and caught his wrist, pulling him down next to the other Pilot.

Quatre sighed and leaned against Trowa's chest, taking comfort from his lover's proximity. "Where are they?" he whispered softly.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

The bleeding was stopped- that was the good news. The bad news was that Duo was completely tapped out of all his ki. The only energy he had left in him was purely physical, and even that was running low. Adrenalin could only last for so long, after all.

By this time, some of the soldiers at the door had started to seriously try and get in. There was more then a little commotion and noise as various objects hit the door with varying degrees of success. What little Duo could hear between the impacts told him that the soldiers had decided that the Pilot they had cornered was somehow responsible for the collapse of a good half of the base, and that they fully intended to 'get even.'

Well, they were going to be a little disappointed.

Duo hoisted Heero up through the hole he'd made upon entering and followed after. He wasn't going to be able to close the thing up after him; let the soldiers make of that what they would. Quickly grabbing Heero again, he disappeared into the vents.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Koenma looked over the mounting paperwork on his desk. There were three reports of minor demons stirring up trouble in various parts of the world- those were little things, he had operatives in the area that could handle it. Two more reports dealt with damage from recent demon activity- work crews were already at the sites. Of the final two, one informed him that there was some seriously abnormal energy fluctuations occurring in various places across the globe (but according to the aura reading, they came from the same source), and the other told him in no uncertain terms that his father was going to be _very_ displeased with him if he got back from his business trip and found out that a group of Koenma's playmates had wrecked a specific shrine on their last visit.

Koenma considered the two carefully. The only people he had available were the Spirit Detectives, and they would only be able to handle one of these. He weighed the consequences in his mind. The first problem, if left unattended, could easily grow into something that had negative repercussions across the three Realms, Makai, Ningenkai, and Reikai alike; the second, if ignored, would earn him a spanking.

Koenma tossed the first into the trash without a second thought.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

A/N: Well, if that ain't Koenma at his best... am I the only one who thinks he's... ah, what's the phrase... oh, yes: Am I the only one who thinks he's a bureocratic pansy? 'Cause he is... :ahem: That bit's in there to tell everyone that YES, this IS a crossover, I haven't forgotten that. I SWEAR the YYH gang will be in here- it's just taking a loong time to get there. And, notes to my reviewers!

**M-python-girl**: Are you kidding? I LOVE Mercedes Lackey! I've got most of her Valdemer books, and a few others that she's written with other authors. I've even got a GW fusion idea with one of her worlds that I'm sitting on untill I finish some of my current fics. She's one of the best authors I know! We seem to have similar tastes... cool! Thanks for the review, and I hope you liked the chapter!

**Mystical-Maiden**: Hmm... can they be distracted with bananas, or other various bait? The imps have been banished, thankfully- we managed to get the computer repair people to perform an excosism, so they should be gone for some time. They're getting out soon, don't worry! Thanks for the well wishing and the review!

**Silvermane1:** Cool, indeed. Thanks for the review, and I hope you liked the chapter!

**cheerful-pinkstar:** Not tell my grade-nazi parents about a report that was due, and then finishing it where they could ask about it. They HATE it when I don't tell them exactly what's due in my classes, and becuase it wasn't the first time, the punishment was heavy. And now they'll be on my back about what grade the paper's gonna get... Neway, I hope you liked the chapter!

**chbi luci:** ...guess I won't be hearing from you for a while, then, 'cause these chapters ares staying short! I hope you liked both Duo's tricks and Koenma's appreance, however!

**Black Angel of Destruction:** I'm a good updater, don't worry. Many thanks for the compliments and the review! I hope you liked this chapter, as well.

**Lady-Frisselle:** Many thanks! I don't mind late reviews, not at all- the fact that you'd take the time to review at all is good enough. Hope you win aginst Wally world!

**Windy River:** Sorry this one's late, but you know I'm a good updater! Happy New Year to you, too.

**Saiph Taeveryn:** Hey, practice at sneaking around parental guidelines makes perfact, and I've had lots of practice! I thought that two bullets, while not being enough to stop Heero, would be sufficent to evetually slow him down... and the blood-loss would be playing a role, too. It's hard to judge the reactions and damage-meter of a guy like that! I bet the only person who REALLY knows how much Heero can take is J. Bastard... But I'm glad you liked that chapter, and thank you for reviewing!

**ZmajGoddess:** Thank you! Happy Holidays and New Year to you, too. Here's the next chapter- sorry I skipped a week! Hope you like it, and thank you for the review.

**inthefire2002:** ...that's one way to describe him. Thanks for the compiments! How'd you like what he did with Heero? I was planning to make much use of the fact that Heero's out of it, but the fact that Duo's out of power kinda stops that plan... ah, well. The blood-stopping thing was the limit for what Duo can do for Heero, because they don't share blood. When Kurama shows up, he'll explain that, so I won't go into it here. Thanks for the review!

**Fire Pheonix1:** Sorry, my updates for this are always short. It will take time, young one, time. The YYH gang gets in late, due mainly to Koenma's general incompitancy. Little twit, for all his grown up form is hot. Neway, that's for the review, and I hope you liked this chapter!

**Kimpatsu no Hoseki:** Here, just for you, a little YYH. Idiotic Koenma... :ahem: I might stick some more bits like that into the story, at least untill the two groups run into each other. This IS going to be a crossover, don't worry! Thanks for reviewing!

**tyranimo:** Here it is, and I hope you liked it! Satisfy my curiosty: Who's 'we?' Many thanks for the review and the compliments!

**C.M. Aeris Queen of Insanity:** Kurama and Hiei are coming, don't worry! I said in the first chapter that it would take a while for the YYH characters to come in, and I meant it. But they WILL be here. Remember Koenma? Thanks for taking the time to review!

Well, folks, that's all for the time being. See ya next week!


	16. Collapse

Welcome, one and all, to the latest chapter of the fic you all have been raving about! Okay, the fic you've all been growling about due to short chapters and lack of YYH characters. In any case, here's chapter 16.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Duo collapsed on the floor beside Wing and Deathscythe. He'd managed to make it out of the ductwork and into the garage, while hauling Heero behind him. After that, it had been the work of the moment to hotwire one of the standard jeeps and head out. He'd thought about stopping to put bandages on Heero, but he'd stopped all the bleeding, and didn't know if he'd be able to start again if he stopped once. It had taken the last of his energy to reach the abandoned warehouse where they'd stashed their Gundams, but here he was. Duo lay where he'd fallen on the concrete, thinking. Heero was safe enough, and semi-comfortable in the jeep, with hopefully no clue as to how he'd gotten there. His injuries, now that he was unconscious and in no pain, as well as not bleeding, weren't a danger to him. That was fine. But the others didn't know what had happened, or if the mission had been a success or not, or even if they were alive. It was standard procedure to always operate as if a worst-case scenario had occurred- they'd be acting like one or both of them were down for the count.

There was a small communicator he'd stored next to 'Scythe's cockpit- that'd tell them that at least one of them was alive. Now if only he could reach it... Duo tried to stand up. After failing miserably at that, he decided to hell with his dignity and concentrated on crawling over to where Deathscythe was kneeling. Once he had reached the spot, however, he simply could not find it in him to climb up to the small box on the cockpit that would send out the signal.

As he lay contemplating his lack of energy, a soft creaking echoed from above him. Self-preservation providing him with a small extra burst of energy, Duo rolled over and managed to get to his feet with a decent amount of speed.

Once he'd managed to get upright, Duo squinted up into the gloom of the warehouse, trying to figure out what had made that noise. He was still tapped out, he couldn't ask the metal, but all his other senses were functioning perfectly and they were telling him-

The creak came again. This time, it was accompanied by the clatter of falling metal on metal. As Duo watched in shock, the signal box he'd been desperate to reach rattled down from its perch, to land on the floor next to him.

"What the hell..." he muttered sinking to his knees beside it and staring. What had happened? Nothing but metal had been up there- even without the energy to actively do anything, he could still sense. If nothing but metal had been up there, then who or what had tipped the signal box down to him? And how had they known he wanted it?

As his head throbbed from exhaustion and energy loss, Duo reached out and hit the switch that started broadcasting the signal. The box was a neat device, with a variety of signals possible. They ranged in meaning from 'MAYDAY! RED ALERT!' to 'Everything's fine and dandy.' The one that Duo had sent out meant something like 'Hey, we're alive, come and pick us up.'

Once that task was done, Duo threw one last glance up into the darkness. _How_ had that box gotten down here? Feeling his head throb even harder, Duo decided to give up pondering the question until he could think clearly again. It could wait, whatever it was.

With the absolute last bits of his energy, Duo pulled himself back over to the jeep. He was barely able to pull himself inside before collapsing next to Heero, and joining Pilot 01 in unconsciousness.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Quatre nearly flew over to the beeping sensor in his haste to check what it had picked up. His eyes flew over the patterns of the signal, and he breathed a huge sigh of relief. "They're alive!" he called out, giddy from pent up tension. There was no visible reaction from the two others, but Quatre could easily feel the waves of emotion coming off of them- Trowa and Wufei were as glad as he was. "They're at the warehouse where they started the mission, and they need some help, the blonde pilot continued, moving across the room and picking up their expanded version of the first aid kit as he went. "I don't have any missions right now, so I'll go- can either of you come as well?"

Quatre didn't get a verbal response- Pilots 03 and 05 simply stood and followed him to the hangers. Moving with the ease of long practice, all three of them climbed swiftly into their Gundams and programmed a course to the coordinates of the warehouse where Heero and Duo had left their Gundams at the start of the mission.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

A/N: If I've said it once, I've said it a dozen times: YYH character WILL be here. It's just going to take a LONG LONG time. And now, notes to the reviewers!

**C.M Aeris Queen of Insanity: **I think someone's had too many video games or something- but thanks for the review, all the same. I'm really glad you like my fic.

**inthefire2002:** Yep, soon- like I said, now that the bleedings stopped, the wounds aren't that dangerous. Quat and company will be at their position shortly, don't you worry. :snicker: The reactions of the three pilots then they find Duo and Heero 'cuddling' are going to be funny.

**chibi luci:** I'm glad I'm not the only one who belives Koenma deserves a swift kick in the rear. I'm very nearly converted to the belive that a Koenma-like being is, if not the supreme ruler of, at least the middle management over the earth. It'd explain a heck of a lot. Duo got the bullets out along the right tragectory because the bullets knew where they'd entered, and coud be told to go out the same way. The iron/blood clotting thing works thus: blood cells have hemoglobin, and hemoglobin has iron in it (that's why blood is red in the air). Duo can control the iron in the blood cells, and thus the blood. He set up the cells and platelets over the wounds, as well as bits of his ki. In effect, he created an instant scab with his energy and the cells that stopped both the blood liquid and the blood cells from exiting. Just a speeding up of what the body does naturally, but far too slowly in heavy damage cases. As energetic as Duo normaly is, a task that delicate would drain even his batteries! Credit for the grenade trick goes to Magneto in the second X-man movie- I just added in the little touch of the building collapsing. Hope you liked this chapter, as well!

**Mystical-Maiden: **Lemme know how it turns out. It'd be a spanking the little brat'd completely deserve, in any case. I try to update this fic fast because I'd have all of you screaming at me if I didn't- not only short chapters, but long update intervals! It helps if you have an idea where the fic is going over several chapters, and just type up each chapter to match the ideas. Hope you find you muses soon! Many thanks for the compliments and the review.

**Windy River: **Once a week, as often as I can!

**ChimeraDragon:** Hope you liked this chapter as well. Sorry to take so long with the last chapter!

**ZmajGoddess:** I always imagine Duo with a variety of tricks up his sleeve. Even if that's not how he is in the anime, that's always the image I get of him. :shrugs: I, too, am waiting for Yuuske to lose it and send his boss through the wall. I think I'll start cheering when he does. Thanks for the review!

**Crysania Fay:** Glad you liked it. I said at the beginning that it would take the YYH gang a long time to show up- and I meant it! I promise that when Kurama and Duo reunite, there will be a really great LONG scene. I update this once a week, if everything in reality goes well. Thank you for the review!

**Lady-Frisselle:** Thank you! I'm glad you like it, and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

**insanechildfanfic:** Compicated name, but a good one. Many thanks for the compliment! I'm glad you like it, and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

**Kimpatsu no Hoseki:** In the future, in the future. I assure you they WILL meet- but due to the short chapters, it takes a while.

**Fire Pheonix1:** Once a week (on average) is long? Hiei and Kurama will be here, don't worry. I swear it; I love them too much to leave them out. I'm sorry that it's taking so long, but it WILL happan.

**cheerful-pinkstar:** Oy, have some sympathy! If they're annoyed with me, I get kicked off the computer! They're getting even more antsy with mid-terms next week- I nearly got ordered off twice while updating this!

**Saiph Taeveryn:** Ain't it, though? Little twit. Many thanks for the review! I hope you like this chapter, as well.

**Raptree:** Thank you, thank you, thank you! I hope you like this chapter, as well- and I hope (most fervently) that your friends agree with you on that!

Well, people, that's all! See yas next week (assuming mid-terms don't kill me)!


	17. Retrival

Eh... please don't kill me? I apologise for reality, really I do- all through these past months there was a major thesis paper I had to do (21 pages of my writing, and over 60 with appendices and bibliography and works cited), and then I was off in Arizona for over a week where even the computer geek who brought his laptop with him couldn't get a wireless internet connection. So I'm really, really sorry- but to make up for it, this is an extra long chapter. Enjoy!

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

The flight over to the abandoned warehouse where the signal was coming from was uneventful- all the OZ machines that usually would have been in the area were currently piles of so much non-functioning junk. The remaining functioning suits were doing much closer ranging patrols, to keep security around individual bases tight. As a consequence, Pilots 03 through 05 reached their goal much sooner then they expected.

Quatre brought Sandrock into the building cautiously, compensating as much as he could for the still-damaged knee joint. He'd have to get that fixed very soon, but after he'd seen to his friends. After Sandrock was safely settled beside Wing and Deathscythe, Quatre swung out of the cockpit and down the outer shell of his Gundam with the ease and grace of long practice, his eyes roaming over the shadowed areas of the cavernous room as he tried to locate the two Pilots.

Thanks to the heavy shadows in the warehouse and the absolute inactivity of Duo and Heero, it took the blond Pilot over a minute before he spotted them, collapsed together in the back seat of the jeep. If it weren't for the bloodstains on Heero's clothes, and the fact that both of them were clearly passed out, it would have looked almost cute.

By the time the Arabian Pilot had gone over to check on them, both Heavyarms and Nataku were inside the cavernous building. Trowa swiftly joined Quatre by the jeep, while Wufei began a perimeter check to ensure that they weren't stumbled upon by a far-ranging OZ patrol.

"How are they?" Trowa asked in a voice that was barely a whisper.

"Duo looks okay, apart from having no energy," Quatre replied at the same level. "Heero's wounds have stopped bleeding, and it doesn't look like the bullets are still inside of him. As long as Heero's wounds don't get infected, they should be okay."

"Good."

Quatre stifled a chuckle- leave it to Trowa to reduce all the pent up relief and feelings inside him into single word. He put that aside, though, as there was a significant logistical problem that now faced them. "How are we going to get them and their Gundams back to the safe-house? They can't fly, we can't fit them in our cabins, and I'm not going to trust them alone in their own Gundams in this condition. Someone's going to have to drive them back."

"But that will leave one Gundam here, much too close to several OZ bases," Trowa agreed, turning the problem over in his mind. There was something that might help, but it was still experimental, and there were several risks involved. "What if we could program a flight path into Heavyarms?"

"That's possible?" Quatre had thought over the possibilities of automatic piloting for the Gundams before, but this was the first he'd heard of those ideas becoming a possibility.

Trowa shrugged. "S sent the program a month or so ago. It's never been field tested, and there's no way to alter the flight once it's begun."

"So if Wufei and I get into a battle, it's just going to keep going and could lead OZ to the safe-house." Quatre ran the risks through his mind- if a situation like that occurred, they would be forced to shoot down Heavyarms to avoid any knowledge of their whereabouts from getting to OZ, thus severely damaging- or possibly destroying- on of the machines that they needed vitally. On the other hand, there was no other way to get all the Gundams back, and leaving one of the suits where OZ could get their hands on it was just as bad of an option.

"Program 03," Wufei's voice called from the shadows as he returned from his quick patrol. "The numbers of OZ troops that will soon be in this area will ensure that its discovery if we leave it here. By removing it now, while the numbers are still down, we stand a much greater chance of getting it back without detection." Quatre turned this over in his head before voicing his agreement.

Trowa nodded and quickly climbed back into the cockpit of Heavyarms, initiating the sequences of the program and entering the path of flight. As he worked, Wufei and Quatre gave their still sleeping comrades a more thorough injury check then the small blonde's once over previously.

"Three bullet wounds, one clean exit, two without exits but not in the wounds- he must have dug them out while he was still conscious- multiple grazes and contusions, no burns, no broken bones, no bleeding," Wufei muttered, sorting the information through his mind. "How's Maxwell?"

"Some bruising, something like slight muscle strain, maybe from dragging Heero out, and general exhaustion," was the soft reply. "Not nearly as bad as Heero, but enough to keep him out cold, I guess. What happened to him that he's like this?"

"Making it all the here, then back to the base in time to get Heero out?" Trowa suggested, holding up the small bundle of nuggets that he had picked up from Deathscythe as he came down from Heavyarms.

"How- the base is miles from here- he must have used a car, or motorcycle, or _something_-" Quatre sputtered, staring at the bag in disbelief. Wufei didn't say anything, merely gave the bag a long measuring look, before sending another one at the pair still out cold beside each other on the car seat.

"They accomplished the mission- that's all we have to worry about," he said at last. "Is that flight plan fully programmed?"

Trowa nodded. "Take off and landing, as well."

"Then we need to move," Quatre stated, shaking off his shock until a point that he could afford it. "Wufei, do you want to take Wing or Deathscythe?"

"Wing. Knowing Maxwell, he's probably specifically programmed that specter he calls a Gundam to do something ridiculous and incontinent should I approach it."

Being who they were, the teens quickly converted plan to action, with all three conscious pilots watching carefully as Heavyarms took off to begin the unmanned flight. Nataku and Sandrock quickly followed, each bearing one of the remaining suits in their arms.

Trowa silently watched them leave, then slid into the driver's seat of the jeep. It would take a few hours to reach the safe house by road, instead of the few minutes by air, but Heero and Duo were in no immediate danger from their wounds and could clearly use the rest. The fact that neither Pilot 01 nor 02 had woken up at any point in the proceedings spoke volumes about their condition. Even apart from all the noise the Gundams had generated, they hadn't stirred when they had been gone over for injures. Yuy barely let anyone touch him when he was awake- should someone be foolish enough to lay a hand on him while he was sleeping, that person would catch a one second glimpse of a gun barrel before meeting the business end of a bullet. Yuy would pull the trigger before he had even so much as opened his eyes, so deeply ingrained was his training and reflexes. Duo's reaction would probably be less extreme- probably- but he, too, would normally have delt some serious damage had he been awoken by an unknown touch.

There hadn't been so much as a twitch out of either of them.

Because of this, and because he knew he had a long ride ahead of him. Trowa felt free to turn over in his head what had been nagging their ever since he had seen the small flakes sitting in Duo's Gundam. _How had Duo done it?_ There were no other tracks leading to or from the warehouse- and on its dirt driveway, they would have been clearly visible. He must have come in on foot, then, or abandoned his vehicle some way back- but no matter how many times Trowa ran it through his head, he still couldn't get the timing to work out in any way.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Wufei carefully guided Nataku after Heavyarms, keeping a watchful eye on the thrusters to make sure they continued to compensate for the added weight of Wing.

That was automatic work, though, and didn't keep his mind off of what had been bothering him since he had checked over Yuy's wounds. Barton hadn't looked closely, or else he would have noticed it, but Quatre hadn't gotten much real exposure to wounds before the war, so he hadn't spotted the irregularities. Not only had there been no bleeding, but the bullets hadn't been left in the wounds. Wufei knew that pilot 01 had no qualms about pain and was fully capable of digging a bullet out of any part of his anatomy without help, but there had been no signs of any further intrusions or probing.

Those bullets should have still been in the wounds.

Even disregarding that, which was not something that Wufei was going to do, there was the fact that Yuy had not been bleeding. Bleeding on heavy wounds didn't stop for hours, and at least some blood should have been flowing. But there had been nothing. Not that Wufei was complaining- that lack of blood flow had probably saved Yuy's life. But it was not normal, and as such was notable.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

A/N: Well, fans, that's the longest chapter on this story yet! I don't know when I'll be able to update again, but I SWEAR that it'll be soon. I've left you all hanging for far too long, and I'm going to be doing my best to aviod it in the future. And now, notes to my lovely, loyal reveiwers!

Windy River:  
Sorry I couldn't live up to that request, but here's the chapter!

C.M. Aeris Queen of Insanity:  
That's what friends are supposed to do. I know mine give me wierd looks very, very often. Don't worry- The Mystery Of The Box will be solved in due course. Sorry aboout the long wait.

Mystical-Maiden:  
I think I can guarentee that my muses took a longer vacation then yours. They can't STAND boring crap like thesis papers. Ug. 21 pages on McCarthy... though adimitily, some of it was amusing. NEway, I hope you like the new chapter- even though it took me forever to find the time for it.

ZmajGoddess:  
Maybe this one won't be too short for you, but I give you full permission to scream at me for how long it took to get up.

tristhe:  
Since your in the Gundam Wing section, I'm going to assume that you know GW pretty well. If you do, or even if you don't, think about it for a while. Duo's youkai name should be fairly easy to guess. Your partly right about the name 'Duo,' though- it's name that Duo gave himself, from experiences in his life, not one that was given to him, so he has much stronger ties to it then to his demon name. Sorry that this is the first new chapter you've read, but I hope you like it!

cheerful-pinkstar:  
I know, I know, this does NOT qualify as updating soon! But the chapter is a lot longer then usual, though. Hope you like it, and sorry for the delay.

ChimeraDragon:  
Here's the more you asked for. I'm not going to say anything about The Mystery Of The Box, 'cause I'm going to solve it later in the fic. But I hope you like this chapter, late as it is!

blackrosebunny:  
If you understand mid-terms, I hope you understand thesis papers, too. God, they suck... they don't let nice, deserving authors have any time to work on their treasured fic:sob: But it's done now (YESSS!), so here's a new chapter. A LONGER chapter, too, so that should make some people happy. Unfortuantly, when I get back into my publishing rythem, they'll probably shorten again. Long chapters are for my other fics. And I've said many time, the YYH people are going to take their own sweet time in showing up. I think Yusuke and Kuwabara got hung up at the video game center, or something. But they WILL be here.

Kanri Koneka Sage:  
Never fear, a longer chapter, is here:blinks: Oh-kay, that's enough sugar for me. But seriously, I try, really I do. If you want longer chapter, look at the other fics. Neway, I hope you like this chapter even with the really long delay.

Saiph Taeveryn:  
If if takes me this long to update, I won't be offended by a long wait for a reivew! I even would have updated this faster, but you apparently sent your imps over to my place- I got back Sunday morning, and this thing was down till Tuesday night! I shall solve The Mystery Of The Box in some subsequent chapter, don't worry! Sorry that this update took so long.

Lachwen:  
Here's the more, though it's long delayed.

Kate:  
Please don't die! I want you to see then end of this story! (And I don't want to get sued for neglect) Here's the new chapter!

Pink:  
Thank you! I hope the like this new chapter, late or not, just as much.

inthefire2002:  
I'm not gonna say a thing about The Mystery Of The Box, mainly because it becomes part of the plot (a small part) later on. Don't be disapointed about reactions, yet- they're all still in 'mission mode,' not to mention to relieved at finding them alive, to let anything else through. Real reactions will begin next chapter!

Cattibrie393:  
That's kinda where I got the idea from, actually. Along with the idea for the grenades. Nice to have a fellow X-men fan in the audience.

Kyra2:  
I plead the fifth. I'm not going to say a word about The Mystery Of The Box until it comes back in the fic. I swear I won't take as long updating, so it should come up fairly soon.

Silvermane1:  
Thankyou. Hope you like this chapter, too.

chibi luci:  
Here's a longer chapter! I'm always glad to give a thankyou to the lovely people who spend their time to tell me something, so I'm not going to stop any time soon. It lets me have a really neat dialouge with the reviewers. Many thanks for the compilment, and I hope you like this chapter as well. Please don't kill me for the long wait...

Duo's Sister, Paladin:  
Hey, just proves that boredom is a necesary and vital part of our life. :cackle: I've got a lot planed for both Duo's and Kurama's demon forms, don't worry. I'm really sorry that it took me so long to update, but I hope you like the new chapter!

Bluespark:  
Nope, they didn't kill me- that was the thesis. I'm writing this as a zombie. But I hope this puts a bit of an end to the cliff-hanger. I thought that the metal idea suited Duo and his talents the best. Kurama gets organic stuff, Duo's gets nonorganic. Ah, symmetry... Neway, hope you liked the new chapter, and didn't die yourself during the wait!

Kaaera:  
I've never seen much YYH, either, but I do read the books on it. And the only GW I've ever seen has been three episodes a friend loaned me, so I'll bet you know a bit more then me. Thanks for the many compliments! I'm not going to say a word about The Mystery Of The Box until it comes back into the story, so keep an eye out for it. As for YYH, maybe, MAYBE around 20? I'm not sure, because I don't have a very ridgid outline for this fic.

Cysania Fay:  
Here it is, here it is! I'm really sorry it took so long! Look at the note above yours for a very fuzzy guess on when the YYH gang shows up. Hope you like the chapter, late as it is.

jordan:  
They might. They might notice other stuff, too. Duo's mask is slowly cracking, even if he doesn't realize it. I hope that this proves I'm still writing, and I promise never to leave my fic hanging for so long again. The Mystery Of They Box will be solved later in the fic, so look for it then. Hope you like the chapter!

Kimpatsu no Hoseki:  
Here's a longer chapter, but no guarentees that they stay that way. I'm sorry to have left it so late, but that thesis was due April 15, and right about when you reviewd I really started to focus on it. Oh, bit of trivia- you reviewd on my birthday! That non-sequitor aside, I hope you like this new (and longer) chapter.

Kay:  
Here is is! I really am sorry to have left it so long.

Sakura Silver Fox:  
They'll be a bit late, I'm afraid. And THANKYOU for telling me my chapters aren't short! If I had a buck for everytime somebody told me that, I could buy this entire network. Since you reviewed pretty reciently, you didn't have to wait quite so long. Hope you like the chapter!

dsfs:Here it is, here it is. Don't worry about it, I'll never take that long again!


	18. Stirrings

I am _so, so, SO_ sorry for stay away from my stories for so long! I swear by all that is holy (which is my romance book collection and my chocolate stash) that I'll never stay away so long again. I would like to thank everyone who hasn't abandoned me by now, and I hope that you all like this latest chapter. Some time in the next week or two I should have another chapter out for my Pirates fic, too. Again: SORRY!

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Quatre had his own doubts about what had happened on that mission. He knew, better than most, what their team was capable of- he was their lead tactician, after all, and the most observant of human nature. He _knew_ the limits that each of them had, so far as their abilities were concerned. He was also the only one who had a news-feed installed into his Gundam. The reports from the base that Heero and Duo had infiltrated were very disturbing. Unlike Wufei's Nataku, Sandrock had automatic compensators on the thrusters. Quatre was able to catch most of the coverage from the base that Heero and Duo had infiltrated.

There were the usual propaganda bits- 'desperate terrorists,' 'colony aggression,' 'merciless killers,' and so on- Quatre forced himself to ignore these, locking the hurt up to be handled later. But past that, there were the scenes of the base itself- and the damage that had been done. The base had nearly been destroyed. All that was standing was one small quarter, and even that look gutted. This plan hadn't included anything that drastic; the small explosives that Heero and Duo should have planted at the start of the mission had been more intended to cause more confusion than damage. The goal had been to provided Heero and Duo cover for getting out- not to destroy the base.

What had happened on that mission? Where had the extra explosives come from? And, most importantly, why had they been used? What had caused the need?

As he flew, Quatre tried to piece together the chain of events in his mind. Clearly, something had gone wrong- Heero must have been detected, that would explain the gun wounds. Heero being Heero, he must have sent Duo away with the objective; the metal flakes had been found in Duo's Gundam, after all, and Duo had been collapsed with exhaustion. Pilot 02 must have reached the warehouse, deposited the metal, and then headed back to help Heero.

But what had happened then? That Duo had made it back to the base was clear; he must have pulled Heero out and driven back to the warehouse. But what had happened in the meantime? What had occurred to cause so much damage at the base?

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Kurama finished coaxing the last vine on the small shrine to its full growth, then glanced over at the spot where Yusuke and Kuwabara were griping to each other about their twit of a boss. Kurama didn't disagree with them, but he also didn't see a point in complaining about it. There wasn't much that could be done to change the facts, after all.

A few more moments of looking located Hiei, who was perched near the top of a nearby pine tree, probably entertaining ideas of a Koenma barbeque. Kurama suppressed a chuckle; Hiei really hated being forced to do anything he considered beneath his dignity, and repair work definitely fit into that category.

Knowing that no one would be paying attention to him for several moments, Kurama carefully opened his inner senses to the flow of energy around him. Lately he had been sensing something odd. It felt like concentrated bursts of ki, but they were oddly muffled. The best comparison he could come up with was that of someone working on a surprise gift- lots of effort, but an equal attempt to keep what they were doing a secret. Further, he should not have been able to detect it to the extent that he had. Normally, he had to concentrate a great deal to extend his awareness more than a mile from his body; but it almost seemed that these energy bursts were seeking him on their own, with no effort from him. He had been hit by them in class, in his garden, and once, been woken out of a sound sleep by a particularly strong one. If this kept up any longer, he was going to ask Hiei to use his Jagan to try to find the source.

Kurama stilled as he felt a brush of the energy he had been seeking. It felt familiar, somehow. Now if he could just place it...

"Hey, Kurama! Let's head back and tell that flaming pip-squeak that we're done with this half-assed job!"

Kurama jerked as his concentration was broken, then sighed and followed the others back towards the portal that would take them to Koenma's office. It was a very long hike; the shrine had been in the middle of nowhere. They would probably have to spend the night in the forest, and finish the hike tomrrow. He'd have to try again later.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Hiei moved easily from branch to branch above the rest of the team. It was irritating to hold his speed down to the pace of Kuwabara-the-ox, but at least it left him plenty of time to think.

Something had been bothering Kurama lately. The fox would be in the middle of a conversation, or a task, and the he would suddenly lose his train of thought and go still and silent. It had happened back at the shrine; and if Kurama thought that he hadn't noticed the red head's efforts at sifting through the energy flows, he was sorely mistaken.

Hiei narrowed his eyes. After they were back and had finished extracting an apology (or possibly a liter of blood- Hiei wasn't picky) from Koenma for the crap assignment, he was going to corner his lover and find out just what was bugging him.

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

A/N: Well, that's that. I hope you all like that I remembered that this IS a crossover, and that the other anime has to be SOMEHOW involved. Again, I'm so sorry for staying off for so long; life just suddenly took a turn for the hectic. But I am now officially a second semester senior, accepted into a college and all, and I hope to update fairly regularly from here on out! See you all later! (And again: thank you to everyone who didn't give up on me!)  



	19. Exlanations

Hello everyone, I'm back after a hectic intorduction into college. For those of you not yet there: make no, I repeat, NO promises regarding update times until you know how much work you're going to be expected to do! I'm immensly sorry that I've taken so long to update, but I swear on a stack of holy relics that I won't let my stories die! And I've made this chapter a little longer than my norm. Enjoy, all my loyal fans who haven't thrown me out because I'm a lazy bum who doesn't update as often as she should!

* * *

Duo groaned as he awoke to a headache that felt like an entire herd of elephants had decided to hold a tap-dancing competition on his skull. Followed by a rousing drum exhibition by one of those 20-armed demons that were native to India. And topped off by a jackhammering, just to be thorough. Gods of the Reikai and Makai, he had forgotten the exact price of expending that much energy in so short a time. He couldn't regret it, though; Heero definitely wouldn't have made it any other way. But it was going to take him a good week to build up his energy reserves again, and he might not have the time before the next mission.

Cautiously, the braided pilot cracked an eyelid, not wanting to give his skull any other reasons to punish him. Some thoughtful person- Quatre in all likely-hood- had closed the blinds to whatever room he was in. It had to be a different safe house than the last one, they always moved as soon as possible after a mission. Hopefully Deathscythe was well hidden.

Since his body and head didn't protest any more vigorously than they already were, Duo carefully sat up, keeping his head very, very steady. Last time he'd been in this condition, he'd made the mistake of shaking his head to a question from Kurama. He could have sworn that his brain had rattled.

A quick glance around the room told him that he was here alone. Getting answers, then, would require actual motion and effort on his part. As Duo lay seriously contemplating the pros and cons of finding out where he was versus his body's strenuous warning not to move or he'd regret it, the door to his room opened.

Trowa raised his eyebrows as he saw that Duo was awake. It had been a good three days since they had pulled the two comatose pilots away from the old warehouse. Heero had awakened the day before, leaving all of them worried about Duo and what had happened to him. "How are you feeling?" he asked quietly, moving into the room.

"Like crap," Duo responded shortly, slowing levering himself upright and cradling his head. "I _hate_ it when the Ozzies get creative!"

"What happened on that last mission?"

"Didn't the Perfect Soldier give you the full report?" Duo snarked. He was _so _not in the mood to be interrogated. He could barely think, let alone come up with believable evasions to the questions everyone was sure to have.

"Heero told us some of it, but he passed out before it was over."

Duo sighed. Might as well get it over with... "Heero played decoy to pull the Ozzies away from the room that the flakes were stored in. I got them out, in record time I might add, and then made it up into the duck work. I know, I know, I was supposed to just get the alloy and get out, but I'd heard enough while Heero and I were in the ducts to know just how many dammed uniforms OZ had crammed into that base as a welcome party for us- there were over three fucking squadrons, Tro! We must be doing some serious damage if they're puttin' out that much effort to try and nail our asses..."

Here Duo paused, ostensibly to catch his breath and calm the pain in his head slightly, but really using the time to think furiously about what he was going to say next. "I wasn't going to leave Heero there to face them all- Perfect Soldier boy he might be, but they'd fucking well planned for that! So I went after him." So far so good... he hadn't said that he'd kept the alloy with him, but he'd strongly implied it. Now for the harder bit...

"I was able to follow the trail of dead bodies that Heero'd conveniently left for me, much better than bread-crumbs, let me tell you. But before I caught up with him, I ran into a group who was hauling some pretty heavy-duty weaponry down one of the halls. I'm talking everything from grenades to mini-beam cannons, here. I kinda guessed they were for use against Heero, so I took out that patrol and used a timer to rig the grenades to go up, right among the rest of the goodies. Somebody make a note to the docs about potential explosion magnifiers- when everything went boom, it went a hell of a lot more boom than I'd expected. Either the spot they went was seriously important to the rest of the building, or the explosion set off the smaller explosives Heero and I had planted earlier, or something, cause when those little fuckers went, they took nearly half the base with them. Guess I should feel luck they didn't take the half with Heero and me in it.

"Anyway, I used the ducts again to get over to Heero and then did some emergency first aid. By then, the explosion had gone, so it was relatively easy to get to a jeep and get back to the Gundams, but between getting battered by the explosion and hauling Heero out of there, I knew neither of us was going to be flying back."

Duo breathed a silent sigh of relief as he finished. No lies, avoiding anything that smacked of demons or magic, perfectly believable and deceptive. Nice work, Maxwell.

Trowa's visible eye glinted as he digested his recitation. "How did the flakes get into your Gundam, when you got back to the warehouse?" he finally asked.

Ohshitohshitohshit... Duo thought franticly. "I made sure I secured them before I collapsed," he told Trowa after a moment. The taller boy thought over the statement for a moment, then nodded.

"It's been nearly three days since you got back. Everyone was worried," he offered softly. "Do you think you could come downstairs and eat something?"

"Sure, Tro," chuckled Duo. "I'd be glad to let Quatre play mother hen." A thought suddenly occurred to him, something he couldn't believe he'd forgotten in his worry over explaining things to Pilot 03's satisfaction. "Heero?" he demanded urgently.

* * *

Well, let's just leave that little cliffie hanging there, shall we? See you soon! (I swear!) 


	20. Rest

In case anyone is wondering: NO, I am NOT dead! I can see how you'd make the mistake, though. I am SO sorry for the delay- real life crawled up to bite me on the ass, and man do I need the name of that sucker's dentist, because it had fangs like you wouldn't believe! I swear, I will continue work on my stories, though. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

Duo's frantic query raised one of Trowa's eyebrows, and a slight smile appeared on the green-eyed pilot's face. "Woke up a day before you, and demanded his laptop to type up the mission report, despite having taken a bullet in one of his arms."

"Oh, good, he'll be fine then," Duo sighed, masking his feelings of overwhelming and all encompassing relief behind a grin at Trowa's comment. "Now if you could find me a headache pill the size of Deathscythe and give me directions, I think I can make it to the kitchen."

Trowa nodded and headed out of the room. He came back shortly with some sort of pill, not as large as Deathscythe but hopefully effective, and a glass of water. Duo didn't ask what was in the medicine, as he probably didn't want to know; the pilots usually had to resort to some fairly esoteric shit to get around the increased resistance to more common drugs that the docs inflicted on them. Oh, for one of Kurama's herb concoctions! Demon plane herbs were much more... potent than anything in the Ningenki, and Kurama usually managed to make them, if not tasty, then at least palatable.

After giving the pill a few minutes to kick in, the braided pilot slowly began to get to his feet. Duo's world swayed unpleasantly for a moment when he finally straitened, but it steadied after a few moments. One careful step after another, and still wary of his head, Duo made his way after Trowa down a short hallway and a steep flight of stairs to find himself in a rather cozy kitchen. Wufei had his back turned to them, working at something on the stove, and Quatre was seated at the table. There was no sign of Pilot 01.

"I told you, Heero-" Quatre began, before looking up and seeing who had come through the door. There was silence in the kitchen for a second, during which Duo wondered what Heero had been doing to earn that particular tone of irritation, before the small Arabian pilot launched himself around the kitchen table with a cry of "Duo!"

Fortunately for Duo's state of nausea, not to mention balance, Quatre came to a stop in front of him before gently hugging him, as opposed to out-right charging into him. Duo was more grateful than he was willing to admit aloud for this small mercy.

"Hey, Q-man," he chuckled, returning the hug gently. "What's the Perfect Soldier been doing while I was asleep?"

Wufei, who had turned to observe the reunion, snorted. "The first time he woke up, he tried to go to his Gundam to check on damage. This attempt ended with him unconscious on the floor. The second time he woke up, he had learned from the experience and set an easier goal; he wanted to go get his laptop, which ended up with him unconscious in the hall. The past three times he's woken up, he has limped in start work on his mission report, which invariably leads to him passed out at the table. We are then obliged to haul him back to his bed, check the stitches on the two major bullet grazes and the bandages on the bullet wounds."

Duo frowned. "Should he be passing out that often?"

"It's just a side affect of the stronger drugs that he's getting," Quatre reassured him cheerfully as he maneuvered the still-shaky Deathscythe pilot into a seat at the table. "The serum is designed to work in waves, which results in the patient fading in and out at fairly regular intervals. This is Heero, so the intervals between blackouts are getting exponentially longer, but he can't suppress them entirely. And-" here Quatre's eyes took on a military glint, "he is _going_ to allow time to fully heal himself before the next mission."

"Agreed," Duo stated. "And since we both know that that will involve tying him to the bed, I volunteer the cargo-chains I've got for getting new parts for 'Scythe. I don't think he'll be able to snap those."

"Baka."

Duo jerked at the oh-so-familiar voice that came from behind him.

* * *

Well, that's it. I'm going to try (TRY, mind you) to have something else new up by the end of this next week.

Oh, and Elven Archer of Rivendell- I'm _so_ sorry for ignoring you; it's part of that 'real life bit me and DAMN but it had _fangs_' thing.


	21. Aftermath

Okay, this is a little over a week, but I still got it up fairly quickly. Better than my last update interval, anyway. Hope you like it!

* * *

Duo quickly spun to face Heero. Hearing that the other pilot was all right was one thing, seeing it for himself was quite another. He didn't even care that the world continued spinning for several seconds after he stopped, because Heero held quite still, and that meant the Duo could prove to himself that his fellow pilot was just fine.

The other pilots in the kitchen did seem to care a great deal about all that spinning, however.

"Duo!" Quatre yelped, springing for his braided friend as the other pilot swayed rather alarmingly. Trowa was just behind him, and added his own hands to aid in keeping their friend upright.

"'M okay, Q, just a little dizzy," Duo mumbled in an effort to reassure his new leaning posts. Nobody fell for it.

"Dammit, Maxwell, you're no better than Yuy!" Wufei fumed, moving quickly around to get a chain behind Duo so he could sit down. "If you pass out, you are going to stay right where you fall. I have had enough of hauling stubborn unconscious idiots back to bed for one day."

Of all the pilots, Heero was the only one not to move as Duo was carefully placed in the chair, hovered over, and generally made much of. The Japanese pilot was too preoccupied with the look that had been in Duo's eyes as he'd spun around at the sound of Heero's voice. It had been desperate, hungry, and almost- pleading. He'd never seen anything like it on the braided pilot's face before. Actually, now that he was thinking about it, he'd rarely seen anything in the other's face but the normal manic cheer that seemed to characterize the American. Something about that seemed wrong, somehow... but between his current inguries and the drugs, he wasn't up to analyzing that thought any further. All he really felt like doing was staring at Duo, so he carried on with that, watching as the other pilot regained composure and got over the lightheadedness that the spinning had caused.

Wufei looked up as Duo recovered, and spotted Heero still standing in the doorway. "Yuy, you should come sit down as well. The need to step over you would very quickly become inconvenient should you collapse where you currently are." Jerking out of his thoughts, Heero moved further into the room, heading towards one of the other open chairs around the table.

Duo, meanwhile, had fully recovered from his dizzy fit, and was desperatly trying to stem the flood of helpfulness that was coming at him from a certain blond pilot. "Enough, Quat!" he finally exclaimed. "I'm just still getting over that last mission, and I guess I moved to quickly, that's all."

"If you're still recovering, Duo, then you shouldn't have gotten out of bed! Here I'll help you back upstairs-"

"Hold it," Duo interrupted firmly, raising a hand to fend of the attempt to help him up. "I have just spent three days out cold. I'm kinda slept out, and I'm starving. I'm gonna eat, and then I'm gonna go check on Deathscythe. As soon as I get a printout of his stats, I promise to go back upstairs and go over them in my room, on my bed, resting quietly, where I can fall asleep should I get the slightest urge. Good enough?"

"Fine," Quatre huffed, knowing that was the best he was going to get. "But if you spend too much time out in the hanger, I swear I'll- I'll use those cargo chains to tie _you_ to the bed!"

"Got it, Q. No all-nighters for me," Duo chuckled. He then set himself to inhaling as much food as humanly (well, part-demon-ly to be entirely accurate) possible. Energy drainage always made him feel like he could eat his own weight twice over.

After he finished, Duo asked for the directions to the hanger, and was absolutely overjoyed to hear that this was one of the few safe houses that actually had the hanger attached directly to the house itself. It might be more accurate to say that the house was attached to the hanger, seeing as storage structure completely dwarfed the living quarters, but that was being picky. Either way, not having to go hiking, swimming, or digging to reach the Gundams (all of which they'd had to do in the past) cheered Duo immensely.

The other pilots remained in the kitchen after Duo left for the Gundams. Given the acoustics of the place, which seemed designed to carry any given noise throughout the rest of the house, they could easily hear him make his way down the hall and into the hanger. They even heard the slight whoosh of the automatic door closing behind him. The silence held for several moments after that sound finished echoing before a voice broke it.

"Who else noticed something odd about this last mission?"

* * *

And I'm just gonna leave that little cliffie right there for you to wail at. On the plus side, I hopefully won't leave it there too long. Reviews make me work faster! (no, I'm not above asking for bribes). Kisses to everyone who's put me on their favorites and updates list, and I'll see you all next chapter! 


	22. Discussion

Okay, fic fans, you all seem to be in luck. I appear to be inspired. Not only is this chapter up within days of the last one, it's also longer than usual. As so as you finish your happy dances, you can send me cookies and ice cream in thanks. And since my muses seem be back in the house (and in my head) I'm going to go see if I can keep them working on this. Don't get too hopeful- my muses are notoriously fickle. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

Heero's eyes narrowed at Trowa's question, then widened as both Wufei and Quatre nodded and made murmurs of assent. His face settling into it's customary stony lack of expression, he bit out a single word. "Explain." 

It was Quatre who spoke up. "You wouldn't have noticed it, Heero, because you were unconscious for the second half of the mission, and a great deal of time afterwards, but Trowa, Wufei, and I all noticed something that seemed... out of place about this mission."

"Such as?"

"Such as an inordinate amount of damage to the base that you and Duo left- judging by the pictures on the news, there's only about a third of it still standing. You didn't have enough explosives on you to accomplish that," Quatre offered quietly.

"Such as your wounds," Wufei chimed in. "When we found you, merely one or two hours after you received those wounds, there was no bleeding. _None_. And this without any sort of bandages or wrapping over the wounds. I will thank any number of deities that this is so, as it undoubtedly went a great deal towards saving your life. But that does not change the fact that, even with your remarkable healing abilities, those wounds should still have been bleeding.

"Further, you were shot three times, and have only one exit wound. Two bullets should have been in you when we found you, yet there were none."

Heero snorted. "So Duo removed them-"

"No, Yuy," Wufei continued sharply. "He did not. No one did. There were no indications of probing or bullet extraction at any of the wounds sights. Those bullets seem to have vanished."

There was another long moment of silence, which Trowa once again broke. "And finally, there is the issue of timing. We have gone over it, factoring in every variable and vehicle we could think of, but the timing never works out. It would have been absolutely impossible for Duo to have made it back to the Gundams to stow the metal, make it back to the base to get you, and then make it back to the Gundams again in the time that he had."

Quatre took over, elaborating further on what he, Trowa, and Wufei had managed to piece together. "We know that he had the jeep for the final return to the Gundams, so we know the approximate amount of time that took and that part of the trip becomes a fixed time. But on the trip to store the Gundams, we don't know how he managed it.

"If he went the entire distance on foot, then he never would have made it in time. Not without breaking the current records for foot speed by at least half. Trowa didn't spot any sort of tracks, baring the jeep's, leading to the warehouse, so we know that he at least arrived on foot, but any possible vehicle heist or combination thereof gets him back at the base far too quickly for anything that happened. The timing simply does not work out."

Heero sat a moment digesting that. "It is possible he kept the flakes with him and spent the excess time rigging devices to cause the abnormal amount of damage to the base."

Quatre nodded quickly. "Yes, it is. That possibility doesn't explain you injuries, but it does exist. But since he didn't wake up until about a little over an hour ago, we could ask him. Which leads me to me asking you, Trowa, what he said when you asked what happened."

"He said, and I quote 'I know, I know, I was supposed to just get the alloy and get out,' and then went on to rant at OZ. He then said that he went to help Heero."

Wufei raised an eyebrow. "So he _did_ keep the alloy with him."

"No," Heero corrected, "he didn't."

Trowa nodded. "So you caught it, too."

"I've worked with Duo more than any of you. I've learned some of his methods."

"What are you talking about, Yuy?" Wufei snorted. "What methods? And how would you know what happened? Maxwell's explanation seems fairly strait forward."

"He never outright said that he kept the alloy with him," Trowa explained quietly. "I was listening for the implications- he deliberately worded the phrase so it sounds like he had no other choice than to keep metals, but he never said it. You know his motto- he never lies. But he's a past master at implication and misdirection."

"I don't necessarily disagree with you on Maxwell's skill at evasion, Barton," Wufei sighed, "but I feel the need to play devil's advocate: what makes you think that, in this particular case, he didn't actually keep the alloy flakes with him and you're just imagining the implications?"

"Two things," Trowa counted off. "First, the fact that Duo made the implication in the first place, instead of stating that he kept the alloy. Second, the fact that the flakes were in his Gundam, _secured_ in his Gundam, while he was found collapsed in the jeep."

"That's right, he was exhausted," Quatre murmured. "He didn't twitch once during the injury check I gave him, and he normally wakes, weapon in hand, at a step in the hallway. Trowa, did he come round at any point after Wufei and I left?"

"No."

"So he was exhausted enough to sleep through the injury checks we gave him, the take off of the Gundams, the change of safe house, and two more days beyond that. I agree- he might have had enough energy left to get into the Gundam for the signaler, but if he was tired enough to collapse that severely afterward, he would have been too tired to think of securing the flakes. And that doesn't even take into account his being too tired to make it back out of his Gundam and safely back to the jeep."

Wufei sighed. "And setting all that aside, assuming that you're all wrong and he did keep the flakes with him on the base, there's still the question of what he was doing to exhaust himself to that degree."

"So where does that leave us?" Quatre asked.

It was Heero who summed it up, eyes narrowed. "Pilot 02 has either abilities or allies that he has not revealed to us, and is deliberately concealing from us. He also apparently got some sort of help while we were on the base in regards to my wounds. Again, he has not seen fit to inform us as to what this help might have been. Finally, we have no evidence of what else he might be hiding from us."

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Dun-dun-_duuuun_. Oh, what a lovely little brew of drama. Bwa-ha-ha. In case none of you have figured it out yet, my muses are evil, evil girls. They might take pity if they get lots of reviews, though. And no, I am not above bribery. Haven't we been through this before? 


	23. Oblivious

Okay, looks like the inspiration has slowed down, but it's still there. This chapter's a little shorter, but it's sort of the conclusion to the big 'something's up with Duo' talk, so I hope it's interesting. Enjoy!

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Grim looks were traded all around the small kitchen table as Heero methodically listed the conclusions that the group had come to.

"So, what now? What do we do?" This time, it was Quatre who broke the long moment of silence that descended after Heero finished speaking.

"We observe, and find out more," Wufei responded before anyone else could.

"This could significantly endanger-" Heero began to protest.

"Whatever Maxwell is hiding, it is clear, to me at least, that he is unquestionably on our side and remains a valuable ally," Wufei interrupted firmly. "I might have questions about his allies and what he is capable of, and possibly his intelligence on occasion, but I have no doubts as to his loyalty. Months of fighting along side him should have proven that to all of you."

"I agree," Quatre seconded quietly. "I have never felt anything but total dedication from him regarding our missions."

Heero's glare intensified. "We need to know what he is concealing from us. If he has allies, which is more likely than his having abilities that would make him capable of what we saw on this mission, then we have no idea what information they have regarding us, what their security is, and what they might let leak out to OZ or any other hostile organization. This is a significant security breach!"

"If OZ were using any information this entirely hypothetical person or persons have on us, then we would have seen indications of it before now," Wufei retorted. "Thus far, any security breaches have been explained, confirmed, and eliminated. We know how all leaked information has gotten out. Nothing has been lost through an unexplainable route, as would have happened if your theory - an entirely unsupported, purely hypothetical situation, I might add- were correct."

"I agree with Wufei and Quatre," Trowa murmured. "We only have confirmation that he's hiding something. We need more than that to determine a course of action."

Heero's scowl deepened, but he gave a curt nod.

Wufei looked thoughtfully toward the hallway where Duo had disappeared. "So, everyone needs to be alert for anything other irregularities in Maxwell's actions. That being said, he should be nearly finished with his Gundam; we need to reconvene after he goes to sleep tonight to finish discussing any other topics that we feel merit consideration."

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

Duo hummed happily as the stats from Deathscythe finished printing out. Just being around the Gundams was supplying him with enough ki to start building up his reserves again. Not that he didn't still feel like crap, but some rest and purely physical energy would fix that in a day or two. It was his pretty much nonexistent reserves of ki that would take time, a week of time at least, to build up again.

That was a definite cause for concern, since he used his demon abilities nearly nonstop in most of the battles and piloting that he was required to do. Without those reserves, not only was he going to become physically exhausted much faster than usual, but he wouldn't be able to do what he normally did with his ki: the constantly monitor and correct all of the small structural errors that occurred in any complex machine as its various parts and components were put under stress. That process was one of the things that made him such a good pilot- he made sure that his Gundam (or shuttle, or plane, whatever he happened to be flying or driving) was always operating at peak efficiency, even after several hours of heavy- _battle_ heavy- use.

Now that his ability to do that was impaired for the next little bit of time, it was more vital than ever that he kept up Deathscythe's stats the old fashioned way- by printout, wrench, and elbow grease. And he wouldn't be able to pull of of his usual fancy flying- the kind where he had to use his energy to either convince the metal to do what he wanted or to actually hold the metal together- until he had a safe amount of ki built up again.

He grabbed the finished printout sheets and headed back toward the kitchen. With a little luck, he could convince whoever was in there to make him a sandwich before he headed up to bed like a good little demon.

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Then end for now, gentle readers! I promise, something plot important and angst creating will be in the next chapter. 'Til then! 


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